Challenges and Needs for Primary Rural Schools to Develop Computing Science Teaching in Thailand

Teaching computing science in a rural school has various limited resources and support.  The purpose of this study is to explore the teaching of computational science and to provide some suggestions for policymakers and teachers who conduct classroom activities by using the case of rural schools in Ratchaburi, Thailand. The qualitative data was collected by site-visit observation, and interviewing teachers who implement the class activities. The finding shows that teachers in this rural area understand the policy of including computing science in the national core curriculum, however, supporting intense supervision from the regional Education office is required.  Also, the result showed that teachers from various backgrounds, including education, social sciences, science, and computer, taught computing science through their own experiences with different approaches in their classes. They are aware of the importance of teaching and learning the subject, but they were confronted by many challenges, such as a lack of time to prepare class and limited scheduled time in the curriculum to deliver to students Many of them suggest the requirement of training to gain more teaching experience as their background is not in this computational field. Furthermore, more learning tools should be provided in this area as only a few schools can obtain standard learning equipment. Activities, such as games and active constructions, are integrated into their class to promote an understanding of computing thinking among students.