Science, technology in its teaching and learning in rural South Australia: Problems and prospects

Metropolitan students achieve higher scores at year 12 in areas of mathematics, the sciences and technology than their rural counterparts. The exact nature of these relative deficits, and their origins in rural schooling is less well understood, as is an understanding of the types of interventions that can redeem them. This paper ex examines the South Australian situation, outlining aspects of under achievement as identified by staff, students and teachers in the four rural schools. It identifies major priority areas for interventions and suggests some prospects for improving learning outcomes. The work is part of an ongoing initiative supported by the National Centre of science, ICT and mathematics education for Rural and Regional Australia (SIMERR).