Map Skills of Secondary Students in Relation to their Gender, Locality, and School type

Abstract

The study of maps is an integral component of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education syllabus (WBBSE). Study of maps is crucial as it stimulates students to expand their spatial understandings of physical and human landscapes on the earth’s surface. This study investigated differences if any in the level of students’ map skills in terms of their gender, locality, and school type. A descriptive research design was used, where data was collected using a self-developed testing tool from three hundred school students in Malda. Analysis techniques, such as frequency, mean, and an independent sample t-test were operated to test the constructed hypotheses using the IBM SPSS v22 software. Results of the study revealed that overall, students had a higher level of map skills. It showed a significant difference in map skills of male versus female, rural versus urban, and between government and private school students (p<.05). It was observed that male students (Mean = 25.07; SD = 3.95) had a higher level of map skills compared to female students (Mean = 19.78; SD = 5.17). Similarly, the students from urban schools (Mean = 23.76; SD = 4.46) and those from private schools (Mean = 26.19; SD = 3.140) had secured a higher level of map skills compared to rural school students (Mean = 20.88; SD = 5.86) and those from government schools (Mean = 18.97; SD = 4.415), respectively.