Science's challenge in rural schools

Rural schools face different problems than urban schools when it comes to teaching science. Making the subject fun to learn and enabling the teachers to stay on is crucial, says R V M Chokkalingam

Rural India has been and continues to be a vital part of the nation. Its conditions can vary greatly across settings. Various economic conditions can make a major difference from one rural community to the next.

Proximity to urban areas affects the rurality of a community as well. Most often our rural initiatives focus on rural economic development and agriculture and are not involved in rural science education. The nature of teaching science can be different in rural areas than suburban or urban areas.

Rural science education reflects the circumstances, challenges, and context of places. Rural schools face different problems than urban schools when it comes to improving their instruction in science. Many of the issues are based in financial constraints but take on different forms.

The biggest challenge has been finding teachers who are willing to work in a rural community, which traditionally means their salary will be slightly lower than in nearby urban schools. Staffing problems are compounded by a lack of facilities. In very rural areas, middle schools in particular, there are simply no laboratories.

Together, these challenges can discharge teachers from accepting rural positions or cause them to leave rural positions or rural schools after a short teaching stint. Making a special contribution to rural science education is a top priority, while enabling home grown prospective science teachers to remain in rural schools is next priority. Indigenous roots allow prospective science teachers to remain in their communities.

Improving policies

Very little research has been done on preparing science teachers to work and stay in rural communities and teach in rural schools. The teaching of science has long been viewed as problematic within classrooms of rural areas. In fact, many of education’s so called best practices were born out of necessity long ago in the rural schools including cooperative learning, multigrade classrooms and intimate links between schools and communities.

While the shortage of qualified science teachers in rural areas is not a new phenomenon, teachers not qualified in each specialisation they teach are now required to seek the necessary credentials if they are to continue teaching in that specialisation. Also rural schools tend to have fewer teaching positions than urban or suburban schools.

There is a need to find out other ways to alleviate the science teachers shortage in rural areas, such as convenient access to their programmes for prospective teachers and possibly working in rural communities or to prepare teachers for teaching in rural settings.

Potential contributing factors include social and collegial isolation, low salaries, multiple grade or subject teaching assignments and a lack of familiarity with rural schools and communities. In many cases, teachers with enough knowledge in one area might be forced to take on science teaching because of understaffing.

Some rural schools enter partnership with local business that lend students their time, money and resources and rely on professional’s time and expertise to help teach science to rural students.

There has been limited or no research on preparing science teachers to work and stay in rural communities. Teaching conditions are unique to rural schools and science teachers find it difficult to prepare for the conditions of rural teaching.

Rural policy makers have found it difficult to recruit and retain science teachers in rural schools. Rural educators have long been calling for special preparations for new science teachers to teach in rural schools. There is a vital need for policy options to help rural schools address the challenges of improving student performance and retaining a qualified science teacher workforce.

Special preparations for new science teachers to teach in rural schools include preparing them for the dynamics of life in rural communities, developing and adapting curriculum to the needs of students in rural communities, creating self-directed professional development practices, using a variety of resources and technology to reduce the barriers of isolation, and functioning effectively in community service areas other than teaching. One suggestion that comes first is to recruit prospective teachers from rural areas, and in some cases, make course arrangements to allow them to stay in their areas while they pursue their education.

Rural schools tend to be smaller than urban schools and this carries a number of benefits for rural students. Class sizes tend to be smaller and students can enjoy more individual attention from their teachers. There is also some evidence that small rural school can be more effective in helping their students learn better, behave better and participate better in civic life. There is a necessity to break down negative stereotypes about teaching in rural schools. Rural educators have long been calling for special preparations for new science teachers to teach in rural schools.

There is a vital need for policy options to help rural schools address the challenges of improving student performance and retaining a qualified science teacher workforce. There is a need to encourage the students of rural areas to take interest in study of basic sciences. There is the shortage of reading materials during their studies, notably textbooks, modules, and other reference books as well as shortage of library facilities which are identified as the major handicap. With fewer students per school and limited funding to match the rural schools have been behind in science education.

Backyard science

There is a lot of hidden talents within rural districts, and it is better to make sure children get what they need so they can choose what they love and want. It is a good way to transform school backyard into a very own science lab and have a blast with awesome experiments. Backyards and neighbourhood provide many wonderful opportunities for kids to both play and learn.

The science based activities help students to develop literacy skills. Science activities stimulate curiosity, provide practical opportunities to explore a concept in easy ways, develop appropriate science understanding of the concepts. Nothing energises students and teachers more than examples of what they can do with what they already have. Stimulating hands-on backyard science activities  such as launching rockets and studying the weather make it fun to learn science.

It is a good to creatively come up with  ways to supplement rural limited resources on their own, by the simple experiments. For any backyard science adventure, you may need butterfly nets, magnifying glasses, insect cages to understand natural world. Rural schools can focus more on connecting students to the larger world with video and teleconferences. Popular science kits and books promote hands-on labs. Games are powerful learning tools, when combined with other exploratory, hands-on activities.

Nature study is a popular practice in rural schools to learn about the natural world. Bird watching, plant examination, and star glazing further the curiosity of students. This provides the setting for practicing observation skills and awaken scientific curiosity and inquiry. Field trips are one such which help expand their learning of the natural world. It helps motivate learning and enhance concepts. So there many ways as to how science can effectively taught in rural schools, even if they have limited resources. And these are just a few that can help.