New Delhi: In a move aimed at aligning school education with emerging technologies, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced resource books for students and teachers for a new course on Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence (CT & AI) for Classes 3 to 8.
The initiative, announced through an official circular dated April 9, is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP), which emphasises integrating modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and data sciences into early education. The board said the move is intended to nurture analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and digital awareness among young learners.
Not textbooks, but classroom support tools
As per CBSE, these new books are not books meant to be independent but are meant to supplement the already existing NCERT Math syllabus for students. The chapters remain the same and can help teachers incorporate thinking through coding and Artificial Intelligence while teaching the existing NCERT course without altering the syllabus. These resources are meant to aid teachers in incorporating "thinking" related problems with math concepts.
Focus on thinking, not just answers
Unlike other modes of teaching, the focus of this innovative course lies in building the process of thinking. Questions provided in the resource books help analyze and solve problems in an organised way by identifying patterns in the problem and its solution.
It has been suggested by CBSE that teachers should take a facilitating role and help students arrive at conclusions through discussions and hints rather than answering their questions directly. Students will try to solve problems on their own and discuss different possibilities in groups.
It does not just stop at imparting knowledge on the basics and includes the introduction to the basics of Artificial Intelligence, such as decision-making through use of data, along with ethical considerations like the presence of bias in the field.
It has set itself a challenging goal of turning out students who know about AI by 2030. In accordance with this plan, the CBSE has also said that AI-based classes for Grade 9 will cease from 2026-27 onwards.
Encouraging curiosity through activities
The resource books also include activity-based learning modules aimed at making lessons more engaging. These activities are intended to build intuition and help students approach problems with better clarity before attempting formal questions.
The CBSE board has asked schools to access the material available on its academic site and start incorporating it in their class room transaction. The teachers have also been advised to plan their classes ahead based on important concepts related to current subjects.
