Connecting the Dots in Computational Thinking

About Course

Computational thinking isn’t about programming. It’s about learning to break problems apart, spot hidden structure, build precise instructions, and recognise when two completely different-looking problems are secretly the same.

This course teaches that kind of thinking — through games, drawing challenges, ancient algorithms, and graph theory — to students in Grades 4–6 who have been identified as high-potential through the ASSET Talent Search.

Every session starts with play. Students compete at games, try to solve puzzles, and decode ancient methods of multiplication. Then they step back and discover: the strategy they just used has a name, and computer scientists use it every day.

What you will learn

• Discover that two completely different-looking games can have identical underlying structure — the core idea of abstraction
• Write instructions so precise that even a very literal friend (or a machine) could follow them — and learn why this is hard
• Meet Al-Khwarizmi, the 9th-century Persian mathematician who gave us the word “algorithm”
• Use graph theory to prove when a puzzle is impossible — not just guess, but prove
• Decode 4,500-year-old Egyptian multiplication and discover it runs on the same mathematics as modern computers
• Recognise patterns of computational thinking in everyday life

Course Creator: Dr. Siddharth Bharath, Director of Online Programs, GenWise (PhD, Ecology, University of Minnesota)

Format: 5 sessions, live on Zoom, over two weekends. ~90 minutes each. May 2026.

Group size: Small cohort (max 15 students)

Price: ₹4,900 — use code ATS2026 at checkout for 20% off (₹3,920)