Reimagining rural STEM by integrating traditional agricultural knowledge into engineering design practices through culturally responsive approaches

STEM education often marginalizes rural students by privileging urban-centric engineering standards and forms of technical representation. This study investigates how traditional agricultural knowledge can be translated into engineering design learning through a Culturally Responsive STEM (CR-STEM) approach in rural classrooms. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected from 12 tenth-grade students through classroom observations, design activities, and student-generated artifacts during an engineering project. A six-phase thematic analysis revealed that integrating agricultural knowledge enabled students to transform everyday experiences into functional engineering strategies. Instead of relying on conventional two-dimensional technical drawings, students demonstrated sophisticated problem-solving through direct hands-on experimentation, material adaptation, and the adaptive use of locally available resources. However, the findings also revealed a pedagogical tension stemming from a disconnect between students’ practical skills and formal communication. While students demonstrated strong physical engineering competence during construction, they struggled with formal technical drawing and academic presentation, which constrained their ability to articulate and formalize their design reasoning. These findings suggest that culturally responsive STEM education should support students in translating tacit local expertise into formal engineering representations. The study contributes to discussions on equitable STEM education by proposing alternative approaches to recognizing and assessing rural engineering competencies in culturally diverse learning contexts.