English abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the level of student acquisitioningrade eleven in Sultanate of Oman. The study also seeks to examine gender variables.
To achieve the aims of the study, the researcher used the analytic descriptive method. The researcher designed a test consisting of (30) questions containing four skills of understanding maps: skills of reading maps, skills of analyzing maps, skills of interpreting maps, skills of deducting maps. After examine its validity and reliability, the test was applied in the study sample which consisted of (242) male and female students from the governate of A Dakiliyah in Sultanate of Oman. The results of the study showed that the students' acquisition level of the skills of understanding maps was a mean of (45.6). This is a level that is lower than the accepted educational level defined in this dissertation as (60%.) The researcher recommends giving additional attention to the skills of understanding maps in the text books of social studies by including units about these skills, and developing the teaching methods of these skills. Notably, effective teaching can be achieved when students develop their performance in several skills within the framework of the new information that they continue to learn. In addition to that there should be attention given to the teaching methods by using different instructional techniques, learning sources, and training teachers of social studies during their services about teaching efficacy related to geography in general and skills of understanding geographic maps in particular.
