Lesson 1: Obstacles Rural Schools Face
Self-Assessment "Quiz"
So, what is a rural school anyway? According to the United States Census Bureau, a rural school district is one that contains fewer than 2,500 residents (Harris and Hodges, 2018). Rural school districts have small population sizes and are geographically isolated from urban or suburban sprawls.
Before jumping into this lessons' topic, take time to analyze your own thoughts, ideas, or preconceived notions about what it means to teach in a school that qualifies as rural.
Fill out the Self-Assessment Quiz linked here to begin thinking about these topics. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDfqyijKFFYACSkOB0HfZ4ngDqeTPBvGoT2GbG0HSgfTGkVg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Past and Present Rural School Circumstances
If you stated that you generally hear negative things about teaching in a rural school, you're not alone. Rural schools in the United States are often viewed in a negative light, due to the perceived disadvantages associated with teaching and attending rural schools.
According to Harris and Hodges (2018), there are 6.5 million students attending rural schools in the United States. In looking at research on STEM education, there has been a significant amount of research conducted related to minority groups, girls, and urban schools. However, there is limited research regarding STEM education for students in rural schools. This is despite the fact that students in rural schools have consistently shown lower test scores in STEM subjects and lower interest in pursuing STEM related careers (Harris and Hodges, 2018). These 6.5 million students of rural schools are an underrepresented group for STEM education research and STEM education itself.
We are not meeting the needs of rural students with our current STEM practices, and here are some reasons why:
- Finding and Retaining Qualified Educators- Given the remoteness of the majority of rural schools, these schools have a harder time attracting teachers in general, and especially teachers who have extensive training and education in STEM areas. Even if a qualified teacher is hired though, teachers may be “spread too thinly” due to rural schools often not having the financial means to allow for several supporting staff members for one teacher
- High-Speed Internet- Many rural schools have trouble with high-speed internet (Hamilton, 2019), which affects the interactive technology available to be used for education purposes.
- Funding and Grants- There is a deficit in the grants and funding given to rural schools compared to urban schools (Harris and Hodges, 2018), and this inherently affects the types, and quality, of the resources made available to rural schools in STEM teachers in particular.
- Parental and Community Values- To pursue a STEM career, obtaining post-secondary degrees is often necessary, and this involves leaving home. Further, many of the STEM careers today involve living in a metropolitan area. What has been shown though by Harris and Hodges (2018), is that leaving home conflicts with rural parental values.
- Relevancy to Students' Lives- Often times, STEM topics may not be taught in such a way that is relevant to students' lives. In order to spark interest and engagement within students, teachers must show that the STEM topics are relevant to their lives. The stereotypical careers in STEM fields of being a doctor or engineer do not accurately represent the extent to which STEM careers are all around. When students only learn about those types of careers though, and not about ones that they might even be doing already at home in their rural lifestyle, this can sway students’ attitudes to being indifferent to learning and engaging with STEM in the classroom.
Video: Rural America is Running Out of Teachers
Watch this video about what it's like teaching in a rural, remote, isolated school in Montana. When you're done watching the video, reflect on the following questions:
- Were there any factors of teaching in a rural school that you had not thought of before?
- At the end of the video, would you be someone who raises their hand to live in Shelby? Why or why not?
Now that we've learned about common barriers to teaching in rural schools, let's learn about why STEM education matters for students in these types of schools in Lesson 2: Importance of STEM in Rural Schools.