Understanding STEM beyond the cities: A comprehensive review of non-metropolitan STEM education research

Abstract

STEM education is vitally important to long-term global prosperity, but it is not well understood beyond our metropolitan centres. If STEM education is to uphold principles of equity and inclusion, then robust knowledge of non-metropolitan STEM education is necessary to appreciate unique opportunities and address entrenched disadvantage. To this end, this paper presents a comprehensive scoping review of demographics, research methods, teaching approaches and emergent themes in non-metropolitan STEM education research. Following the PRISMA protocol, a 4-phase selection process identified 229 relevant research outputs. Priori and priori coding processes were applied collaboratively. Findings show that research in this field has increased significantly since 2020 and that 75% of all outputs originate from Australia and the USA. Engineering and technology are underrepresented and most research focuses on primary and secondary school contexts. Qualitative and quantitative methods were typically observed in cross sectional, case study and quasi-experimental designs. Themes of relevance, collaboration, student-centred learning and technological support emerged across the 18 STEM instructional approaches. Thematic analyses showed that the core focus on teacher and student traits was supplemented by wider contextual foci, such as culture/ community, metro/non-metro comparison and partnerships. Limitations and directions for future work will be discussed.