A Conceptual Model for Engineering Educators in Rural Places: Critical Reflection and Engagement

Rural educational contexts often go under addressed in engineering education research and practice. Given the specific nuances associated with rural places and contexts, engineering education outreach should be better aligned with ongoing efforts to recognize and engage students’ assets in education. This paper introduces a conceptual model that proposes tenets, or considerations, for engineering engagement in rural places. The tenets include: understand self and context rooted in a place; seek to (re)contextualize curriculum; encourage students’ assets and other ways of knowing, and engage critically and hopefully. The tenets of this paper are grounded in literature from rural education, P-12 engineering education, asset-based education, and literature pertaining to the rural Appalachian context and spatial justice. Each tenet section presents some of this literature as well as questions for individual reflection to further engage with the tenets. The conceptual model presented in this provides a framework for ongoing reflection on the importance of place and how place can inform engineering education outreach and engagement. Though this paper focuses on rural contexts, the tenets used to organize the model and the associated reflection questions could prove useful to work in various contexts (e.g. suburban, urban). Ultimately, this paper encourages the recognition of how geographies impact communities and how to engage with place in P-12 engineering education settings.