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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1569489
This article is part of the Research Topic Rural STEMM Education Research: Bridging between Uniqueness and Universality View all 4 articles
Integrating STEM Education in Sustained Deep Rural Schools: Innovative Strategies for Multi-Grade, Multi-Subject Classrooms
Provisionally accepted- University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
Sustained Deep Rurality (SDR) represents an extreme form of rurality, characterized by geographic isolation, small school populations, and limited access to resources. Despite these challenges, SDR educators play a crucial role in advancing STEM education in multigrade, multi-curricular classrooms. This study investigates how SDR K-8 teachers in the Northern Rocky Mountain region implement STEM education amid constraints such as professional isolation, limited funding, and diverse student needs. Using narrative interviews and small story analysis, the research identifies three key strategies: (1) managing STEM instruction across multiple grade levels, (2) integrating STEM through multi-subject connections, and (3) utilizing local environmental and community resources for hands-on, experiential learning. Findings reveal that SDR educators employ innovative, place-based STEM methodologies, incorporating local ecosystems, agriculture, and industry to create relevant and engaging learning experiences. This study highlights the resilience and ingenuity of SDR teachers, offering insights into how STEM education can be effectively adapted for the most remote and underserved students, ultimately promoting educational equity in extreme rural contexts.
Keywords: Sustained Deep Rural, STEM - Science Technology Engineering Mathematics, rural, Qualitative, Narrative
Received: 31 Jan 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jones. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Devan A Jones, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
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