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(1/11/2007)
Homeschoolers Compete in National Geographic Bee Winner will move on to compete at state level
BY BOB ELLIS Nine homeschool students competed Wednesday for the trophy in the 2006-2007 South Dakota Christian Home Educator’s Geography Bee. The event was held at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City on January 10. The event was sponsored by SDCHE and used material from the National Geographic Bee, publishers of National Geographic Magazine. The purpose is to encourage the study of geography. In a international survey conducted by National Geographic and released in May 2006, one third of U.S. respondents couldn't find Louisiana, and 48% couldn't find Mississippi on a map. The survey found that Americans trailed in geography knowledge behind Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and Great Britain when 18-24 year olds were surveyed; only Mexicans displayed less geography knowledge. But these homeschoolers were probably not among those surveyed, because they displayed an admirable grasp of geography. The bee in Rapid City was put on by Theresa and David Johnson, and Dawn Wattenhofer of SDCHE. Competing in the bee were Colt Schneider, Matthew Johnson, Andrea Johnson, David Small, William Small, Hanna Jo Selan, Matthew Howard, Austin Howard and MaKinzie Heggem. The geography bee is for students in grades four through eight, and all were represented at the Rapid City bee. As the bee got underway, Wattenhoefer read each question to the contestants twice, and Taffy Howard kept score. Contestants were allowed 15 seconds to answer each question, and in the preliminary rounds, each contestant received a different question. Later elimination rounds required all contestants to write down their answer to the same question, with those giving incorrect answers eliminated from the competition. There were seven rounds in all. While all the contestants displayed admirable mastery of geography, by the end of round seven Matthew Johnson had won the bee. How well would you do at the geography bee? Some sample questions from the material include: Which country has the world's largest Muslim population—Indonesia or Mexico? What is the term for a part of an ocean or sea that cuts far into the bordering landmass and may contain one or more bays? The port of Rotterdam is built on the delta of which major European river? The North Atlantic current brings warm waters from the tropics to the west coast of which continent? To visit the ruins of Persepolis, an ancient ceremonial capital of Persia, you would have to travel to what present-day country? None of the questions above are actually used in the bee. National Geographic offers a number of resources to help students prepare for the bee, including an atlas, GeoBee Challenge game, lesson plans, and other materials, but the actual questions are kept confidential until they are administered during the bee. The school-level bees will be conducted across the nation through Jan. 12. Winners will then go on to compete with winners from other schools and homeschool groups at the state level. The state-level bee will be held on March 30, 2007 in Brookings, South Dakota. State winners will compete at the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C. on May 22-34, 2007.
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