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Teacher-2-Teacher

Developing computational

thinking skills

ASHWINI CHANDRASHEKHAR

N CLASSROOMS WORLDWIDE, teaching-learning When taught mere coding students
coding, aka programming — the process of writing in-
structions for computers to follow — has become popu- are trained to write basic instructions
Ilar. Schools are racing to introduce programming, with but not develop the thinking of good
students learning to create animations, navigate mazes,
and control robots through code. While these activities do engineers and mathematicians that
involve some computational thinking — using sequences, sparks innovation
loops, and basic logic — they remain confined to sanitised
environments, far removed from real-world complexity.
It’s not that coding exercises lack value. However, they now drives breakthrough after breakthrough. When arti-
focus too narrowly on teaching specific programming lan- ficial intelligence recently discovered a new antibiotic, it
guages instead of developing a broader, more powerful way wasn't working alone, it was guided by microbiologists who
of thinking. It’s like teaching a student to use a calculator knew what patterns to look for. When climate scientists
only to add numbers or a smartphone only to make calls. make predictions about global weather patterns, they’re
When taught coding, students are trained to write basic in- combining decades of human experience with computa-
structions but not develop the thinking of good engineers tional models in ways that neither could achieve alone.
and mathematicians that sparks innovation by merging hu- At Educational Initiatives (EI), we’re addressing a fun-
man intelligence with computational power. damental question: How do we develop students’ capabil-
Evidence of this gap is startling. In a recent ASSET ity to think computationally? Through our research, we’ve
Computational Thinking (or CT, as it’s popularly known) learned that students need immersive experiences that
diagnostic test, students were shown how German math- progress naturally — from logic puzzles that sharpen rea-
ematician Carl Friedrich Gauss cleverly solved the problem soning, to simulations that bring scientific concepts to life,
of adding numbers from 1 to 100 by adding them in pairs to data analysis that reveals hidden patterns in real-world
(1+100=101, 2+99=101, 3+98=101, and so on) to make the problems.
calculation simple. Then they were asked to apply the same The global shift towards computational thinking.
thinking to add numbers from 1 to 50. The results were The importance of computational thinking is being ac-
dismaying. Even with the solution pattern in front of them, knowledged worldwide. Japan’s ‘Informatics’ curriculum
most students couldn’t adapt it to solve a similar problem. integrates this skill across subjects. Singapore’s ‘Code for
They could follow the specific example, but couldn’t grasp Fun’ program develops logical reasoning through hands-on
the underlying principle to apply it in a new context. activities. The UK introduces these concepts to children as
This inability to transfer known patterns to new situa- young as five, focusing on creating rather than just consum-
tions is just one facet of the problem. Students also strug- ing technology.
gle with logical reasoning. Consider this seemingly simple India’s National Education Policy 2020 and the Nation-
puzzle: if Anu stands 5th from the left and 15th from the al Curriculum Framework 2023 highlight computational
right in a line, how many students are there in the line? thinking as fundamental to creating well-rounded 21st cen-
Less than 20 percent of class III and Class IV children an- tury citizens. Internationally, PISA, the global benchmark
swered this correctly. Even in class VIII only 29 percent of for educational assessment conducted by OECD, added
students provided the correct answer. The question isn’t computational thinking as a subject in 2022, acknowledg-
mathematically complex, it simply requires organising in- ing its critical importance for students’ future success.
formation systematically and drawing logical conclusions, A vision for the future. As AI transforms every field, ca-
a fundamental requirement of computational thinking that pability to think computationally becomes not just valuable,
most students haven’t developed. but essential. Success will belong to those who can combine
The power of computational thinking. History shows human creativity with AI capabilities. EI’s Mindspark CT,
us why this matters. During World War II, the challenge launching in March 2025, will take students on this jour-
of breaking the German Enigma code seemed impossible. ney through challenges that simultaneously develop logical
The code changed daily, making it too complex for human thinking and creative problem-solving, the twin engines of
deciphering. The breakthrough came when Alan Turing and innovation in an AI-enhanced world.
his team developed a solution that combined human pat- The tools and pathways exist. Evidence for their neces-
tern recognition capability with mechanical computational sity is clear. The question is: How quickly can our educa-
power. The British scientists succeeded not because they tion system evolve to equip students with these essential
had the fastest computers, but because they could combine capabilities for the future?
human and machine capabilities. (Ashwini Chandrashekhar is Manager, computational thinking at Educa-
This marriage of human and computational thinking tional Initiatives, Bengaluru)

54 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2025