Balancing Wellbeing, Equity and Workforce preparation through ‘Art with Shapes’

Abstract

This paper presents Art with Shapes, a cross-disciplinary middle school lesson integrating mathematics, art, and computational thinking (CT) in Indian public schools. Grounded in India's National Education Policy (NEP 2020) and aligned with the OECD Learning Compass and UNESCO’s Happy Schools, the lesson exemplifies effective ICT education goals and the challenges of translating them into sustainable classroom practice. Blending geometry, art, and coding, Art with Shapes offers culturally responsive learning and serves as a touchstone to illustrate the practical interplay between the educational aims of wellbeing, equity and workforce preparation. Narrative, process-focused and choice-based tasks foster equity, address the digital divide, and promote wellbeing through personal creative expression, while developing computational thinking skills for workforce readiness. The paper analyzes the lesson, identifies tensions between curriculum goals and classroom realities, and calls for teacher participation in learning design, targeted professional development, and policy-aligned strategies to advance equitable and sustainable computational thinking education. Art with Shapes is now embedded in Telangana’s SCERT Digital Literacy curriculum and 8,783 teachers were trained via state-level workshops. Through Codemitra app, 4,000+ students across 30+ states participated, with over 70% of learners in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu & Kashmir completing more than half the activities, demonstrating widespread reach and sustained engagement.