From Classroom to Field: Rural Teachers’ Integration of Science and the Outdoors

This study explored how rural educators in the US use outdoor environments to enhance science instruction, addressing the educational marginalization of rural students. Using rural cultural wealth as a theoretical framework, we investigated how rural teachers integrate local nature-based resources and students’ out-of-school experiences into science learning. We conducted interviews and observations with rural teachers, using reflexive thematic analysis as our qualitative approach. Three key themes emerged that highlight the ways our participants use the outdoor environment to teach science: (a) harness rural community partnerships, (b) engage students through relational teaching, and (c) design learning opportunities that honor students as both people and scientists. These findings illustrate how outdoor science instruction fosters student engagement; provides authentic scientific inquiry aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards; and promotes deep connections between students, their communities, and the natural world. We conclude by calling for a broader adoption of asset-based approaches to rural education and urging science educators to incorporate outdoor settings into their pedagogy as a way to enhance educational equity in rural communities.