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CBSE Class 6 Computational Thinking and AI: what your child learns, chapter by chapter
In short: in Class 6, CBSE's Computational Thinking and AI (CT and AI) course has two halves. The first is ten chapters of puzzle-style thinking questions that sit next to your child's Maths chapters. The second is four short chapters that introduce AI itself: what it is, data, patterns and safe, ethical use of technology. Everything below comes from CBSE's free Class 6 Student Handbook (First Edition, March 2026), which we read in full on 7 November 2026. Page numbers are the handbook's own.
If you want the bigger picture first: our guide to CBSE's CT and AI curriculum for Classes 3 to 8 explains the framework, and our list of all 12 official handbooks has the download links for every class.
The Class 6 book at a glance
| Part 1: Computational Thinking | Part 2: Artificial Intelligence | |
|---|---|---|
| Chapters | 10 (pages 11 to 46) | 4 (pages 48 to 82) |
| What it looks like | About ten puzzle questions per chapter, most with four options; one chapter starts with a hands-on activity | Short lessons with examples, then an exercise: multiple choice, fill in the blanks, short answers, "think and apply" |
| Tied to | The Class 6 Maths chapters, in the same order | Everyday life, data and online safety |
| Time CBSE suggests | 40 hours of CT in the year | 20 hours of AI, plus 40 hours for two cross-subject projects |
The handbook says the hours for Class 6 add up to 100 in the year, split as above. It also says assessment is continuous: projects, assignments, reflective journals, written tests with CT puzzles and practical work, not a single exam.
Part 1: Computational Thinking, chapter by chapter
Each chapter carries the name of a Class 6 Maths chapter. The questions do not repeat the Maths textbook: they take the same idea and turn it into a puzzle that needs careful reading, several steps and a bit of logic.
| Chapter (page) | What the puzzles ask your child to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Patterns in Mathematics (p. 11) | Continue number and picture sequences, spot the one wrong term in a series, predict how a growing pattern of blocks or shapes carries on |
| 2. Lines and Angles (p. 14) | Work out directions and angles from clues, including angles between clock hands and seating around a round table |
| 3. Number Play (p. 17) | Number puzzles with rules: dice games, grids with hidden counts, arrows that compare numbers |
| 4. Data Handling and Presentation (p. 20) | Read pictographs and bar graphs, and combine what a graph shows with written clues |
| 5. Prime Time (p. 25) | A hands-on activity first: join equally spaced points on a circle by a counting rule and see which shapes appear; then questions on factors, multiples and primes |
| 6. Perimeter and Area (p. 30) | Folding, cutting and arranging shapes, and deciding what happens to perimeter and area |
| 7. Fractions (p. 34) | Compare and order fractions, including marks out of different totals, and fraction word puzzles |
| 8. Playing with Constructions (p. 36) | Fit pieces together into squares and rectangles, and count shapes made by lines or matchsticks |
| 9. Symmetry (p. 40) | Fold-and-cut puzzles, lines of symmetry and turning symmetry |
| 10. The Other Side of Zero (p. 44) | Negative numbers in series, comparisons and simple score-keeping rules |
The handbook's introduction names the skills behind these puzzles: decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, algorithm design, troubleshooting and data analysis. In plain words: breaking a problem into parts, spotting patterns, ignoring details that do not matter, writing exact steps, finding mistakes and reading data. The handbook asks teachers to give children time to try on their own first and then compare methods, and it says the way of thinking matters more than getting the right option.
Part 2: Artificial Intelligence, chapter by chapter
| Chapter (page) | What your child meets |
|---|---|
| 1. Introduction to AI and Everyday Examples (p. 48) | What intelligence and AI are; a short history (Alan Turing, the 1956 Dartmouth project, the "AI winter"); where AI shows up in daily life (phones, banking, shopping, health, security, games, search); how AI differs from simple automation; human versus machine intelligence; labelled and unlabelled data; and the three ways machines learn: supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning |
| 2. Basic Data Concepts (p. 60) | What data is and why it matters; five kinds of data (numbers, text, images, video, sound); where data comes from; how to sort, label and store it; showing it in tables, bar charts and pictograms |
| 3. Simple Pattern Recognition and Decision Making (p. 70) | Patterns in routines, nature and language; finding repeats and similarities in data; turning what you observe into a simple conclusion and a decision |
| 4. Ethics and Digital Responsibility (p. 76) | Responsible use of technology; a story about a Class 6 boy who copies an essay for a project, then clicks a fake "you have won a free game" email and a fake virus warning, and loses his files; plagiarism, hacking, phishing, spam, privacy, software piracy and intellectual property; digital footprints and how to protect them |
Chapter 1 is the heaviest: it is the longest of the four, and words like "supervised learning" are new for most 11-year-olds. Chapter 4 is the one most worth repeating at home, because it is about what your child does online today.
What you can do at home (no extra books needed)
- Do one puzzle together a week. Pick a Part 1 question that matches this week's Maths chapter. Before anyone answers, ask: "What do we know? What are we asked? What can we ignore?" That is computational thinking in three questions.
- Ask for the steps, not just the option. Many questions have four choices. If your child guesses right, ask them to explain why the other three are wrong.
- Turn the circle activity into a game. For Chapter 5, draw a circle with 12 dots and try the counting rule with different numbers. Ask your child to predict the shape before drawing it.
- Hunt for AI at home. For Part 2, Chapter 1, list the machines in your house and sort them into "follows fixed steps" and "learns from examples". Our AI activities for kids that need no computer has more games like this.
- Make a family table and a chart. For Chapter 2, record something simple for a week, such as who walked how far or how many glasses of water each person drank, then draw a bar chart or pictogram together.
- Talk through Arjun's story. For Chapter 4, ask: "What would you do if a message said you had won a free game?" Agree on a family rule: never click, never share an OTP, always ask an adult.
- Explain AI in ten minutes. Our ten-minute, no-device way to explain AI to a Class 6 child fits Part 2, Chapter 1 well.
Is there an exam?
The handbook describes continuous, school-based assessment (projects, journals, puzzle tests and practical work) and does not describe a board exam for CT and AI. How your school records it is up to the school, so ask your child's teacher how they will assess it this year.
Honest status
- CMDLearn has no link with CBSE. This page describes the official Class 6 Student Handbook in our own words; it does not reproduce its questions. If your child's school uses a different book, check with the school.
- CMDLearn is making an AI tutor for Indian students in Classes 1 to 10. The tutor is not finished, and no school or child is using it. To get an email when early access starts, join the waitlist.
Sources
- CBSE, Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence, Class 6, Student Handbook, First Edition, March 2026 (contents p. 4; time allocation and assessment, introduction; "How to Use This Book?" p. 9; Part 1 chapters pp. 11-46; Part 2 chapters pp. 48-82), read 7 November 2026: cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/CurriculumMain27/CTAI_Pri6SH_2026-27.pdf
- CBSE CT & AI page, with the handbooks for every class: cbseacademic.nic.in/ct-ai.html