What is the level of geographic literacy among undergraduate students of Bahir Dar University?

Abstract

Geographical literacy is vital for the 21^st century global citizens to make reasonable decisions about the planet; to maintain a sustainable and interdependent world where they can live in harmony with other human beings. In this article a survey was made to assess the level of geographic knowledge of Bahir Dar University undergraduate students. A cross-sectional survey design was employed and data were collected from 452 students through a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 78 test items. Surprisingly, the students’ geographic literacy in all the tests was found to be low. The Mann-Whitney U test also indicated no statistically significant difference in test scores between geography major and non- major students (U = 23159, p = .487). Further study on the teaching and learning process is crucial to address this pressing problem.

Keywords: Geographic literacy, Bahir Dar University, geographic knowledge, undergraduate students, Amhara