UNIT 4: Introduction to Capstone Project

Title: Introduction to Capstone Project Approach: Hands on, Team Discussion, Web
search, Case studies

Summary: In this unit, students will be able to understand the concept of Capstone project
and its importance as a final project of an academic program. They will understand that all
the knowledge gathered will be integrated in the form of a project known as Capstone Project.
The chapter will help the students understand how real-life simple day to day problems or
situations can be handled and solved using a methodology known as Design Thinking and how
to leverage AI in addressing these issues. The students will also learn to associate the issues
with Sustainable Development Goals. They will be able to exchange their points of view based
on experiences and discuss potential solutions to the problem.

Learning Objectives:
● Understand the meaning of the Capstone Project and its goals.
● Understand how problems can be identified, decomposed and solved using Design
Thinking Methodology.
● Learn the steps of Design Thinking and apply for solving simple issues.
● Learn to create Empathy maps.
● Understand the importance of 5W1H in Design Thinking and Capstone Project
development.
● Relate the importance of Sustainable Development Goals and how these issues can be
aligned with Capstone Project.

Key Concepts: Design Thinking, Empathy Map, SDG’s, Capstone Project

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this unit, students will be able to
● Decompose any problem using the 5W1H method
● Apply Design thinking methodology
● Create empathy maps
● Align problems to SDGS
● Apply all the learnings in solving real world problems
● Comfortably express their solution to a problem in non-technical words

Pre-requisites: Basic knowledge about problem solving, issues around them, good
communication skills to express their views about any issue, basic knowledge about AI,
scientific temper.

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Launching Your Journey: A Teacher's Guide to the Capstone Project
Introduction

This lesson equips you to introduce the exciting Capstone Project, a cornerstone of the
course and their final assessment.

1. Setting the Stage:

• Capstone Overview: Begin by explaining the Capstone Project – a student-driven

project they will develop throughout the course and submit for their final
examination.
• Long-term Focus: Emphasize the project's importance and how it allows them to
integrate and apply skills learned throughout the course.

2. Early Start, Strong Finish:

• Spreading the Workload: Highlight the benefit of starting the project early in Class
XI. This allows for a more manageable workload and avoids last-minute pressure in
Class XII.

3. Considering Different Viewpoints:

• Multiple Perspectives: Encourage students to approach the project from various

viewpoints:
o User Perspective: Who will benefit from the project?
o Business Perspective: How does the project address a business need or
opportunity?
o Project Developer Perspective: What are the technical considerations and
limitations?

This multi-faceted approach fosters well-rounded project development.

4. Building the Foundation (Class XII):

• Detailed Methodology: Explain that Class XII Unit 1 (Data Science Methodology) will
delve deeper into the steps involved in developing a Capstone Project. This includes:
o Data Collection Methods: Exploring various ways to gather data for the project.
o Data Storage Options: Discussing different methods to store the collected
data.
o Data Analysis Techniques: Examining various tools and approaches for
analyzing data.

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5. The Power of the Project Logbook:

• Introducing the Logbook: Introduce the concept of a project logbook – a dedicated

notebook or digital document where students will track their progress.
• Starting Early: Encourage students to begin completing portions of the logbook in
Class XI itself. This might include:
o Brainstorming project ideas.
o Researching the chosen topic.
o Defining initial project goals and objectives.

Additional Tips:

• Facilitate brainstorming sessions to spark project ideas aligned with student

interests.
• Invite guest speakers from relevant fields to share their project development
experiences.
• Provide opportunities for students to present their initial project ideas and receive
feedback from peers and instructors.

By implementing these strategies, you can ignite student enthusiasm for the Capstone
Project, set them up for success, and empower them to create insightful and impactful
projects.

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Introduction to Capstone Project
Teachers can ask the following questions:

1. Can you think of a problem or challenge

in your everyday life, schoolwork, or
hobbies that you might be able to solve
using technology? Is there a pattern
involved in this problem? This gets them
thinking about how AI can be applied to
real-world problems and introduces the
concept of patterns being crucial for AI
solutions.
2. Imagine you are working on a team for
an AI Capstone project. What skills
would be important for each team
member to have in order to be
successful? This gets them thinking about
the collaborative nature of AI projects and
the different skills needed beyond just
technical knowledge.

A capstone project is a project where students must research a topic, deeply understand
the subject matter and integrate all their knowledge gathered about a particular subject to
develop a solution to a problem.
The AI Capstone project will give learners an opportunity to implement the AI skills
as a final step in the learning path to showcase their expertise in the subject matter.
While doing a Capstone project, students will learn more about problems which they can
solve to improve lives and make the world a better place. Also, they learn many important
skills including:
● how to work as a team member?
● how to clearly identify an issue? and how it is affecting (the user)?
● how to brainstorm solutions and select the best one?
● how to decide which type of AI may be useful for the proposed solution?
● how to ethically gather and use data to train a computer to help solve the issue?
● how to test the prototype with users and use their feedback to improve the solution?
● how to pitch their solution to people who will be able to help them take action?
Some Examples for Capstone Project are given below:
1. Stock Prices Predictor
2. Develop A Sentiment Analyzer
3. Movie Ticket Price Predictor
4. Students Results Predictor
5. Human Activity Recognition using Smartphone Data set
6. Classifying humans and animals in a photo

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The list of Examples is huge as every year students are coming up with new ideas and
innovations for new projects.
Asking the right question before starting the AI Capstone Project
Before Starting a Project, one should analyze whether a problem has a pattern
associated with it. If there is no pattern, then the problem cannot be solved with AI
technology. It is fundamental that this question, “Is there a Pattern?” is asked before
deciding to embark on an AI development journey.
There are various AI techniques which can be applied to check for patterns and solve
the problems. Predictive Analysis helps in identifying the patterns by asking different
questions which fall into different approaches. Some of the questions are given below:
1) Which category? (Classification)
2) How much or how many? (Regression)
3) Which group? (Clustering)
4) Is this unusual? (Anomaly Detection)
5) Which option should be taken? (Recommendation)
Now, once these questions are answered, we can decide that the problem can be solved
using AI. Complex problems cannot be dealt with as such. Then we try to simplify the
complex problem to analyze it. This is known as Problem Decomposition.
Problem decomposition steps
1. Understand the problem and then restate the problem in your own words
● Know what the desired inputs and outputs are
● Ask questions for clarification (in class these questions might be to your
instructor, but most of the time they will be asking either yourself or your
collaborators)
2. Break the problem down into a few large pieces.
● Write these down, either on paper or as comments in a file.
3. Break complicated pieces down into smaller pieces.
● Keep breaking down until all of the pieces are small.
4. Code one small piece at a time.
● Think about how to implement it and write the code/query
● Test it on its own and Fix problems, if any

1. Many people are facing serious issues with traffic jams during office hours which may be
caused due to multiple reasons. Considering this as a major issue to resolve, write down
the problem decomposition steps to make it simple to solve.
First Step → Understand the Problem and Restate it.
Public is facing difficulty due to the problem of traffic jams especially during the busy
office hours.

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Second Step → Break the problem down into a few large pieces.
Split the traffic issue separately for each reason
a. Bad Roads
b. Accidents
c. Office Hours
d. Rash Driving
e. Inappropriate Signals
f. Over Crowded Area
Third Step → Break complicated pieces down into smaller pieces.
From the above sub steps (reasons), if any reason is of complicated type, we can split
it into more simpler units. For example, Rash Driving can be further split into
a. Over Speed
b. New Drivers with less experience
c. Careless Driving
Fourth Step –>Take each issue at a time and try to find the solution
2. Critical and Creative Thinking
Definition: Critical thinking is the ability to analyze a situation and make a judgment
based on facts and data. Creative thinking on the other hand refers to the ability to come up
with new ideas or rather solutions.
So, these two skills are very important to raise questions against problems, gather
and assess relevant information, brainstorm ideas and formulate well-reasoned
conclusions and solutions. Creative thinking and critical thinking are necessary skills for
equipping individuals to be the social change makers, leaders and innovators. Complex
problems can be easily solved using critical and creative thinking which has a systematic
approach to address any problem which has to be solved. This approach is known as Design
Thinking.
Introduction to Design Thinking
Definition: Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that expert teams use to
understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative
solutions to prototype and test.

Design Thinking framework

Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving
problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or
unknown.

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The five stages of Design Thinking are as follows: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and
Test.

Figure 1: Stages of Design Thinking Framework

i) Empathize
Design thinking begins with empathy. This requires doing away with any
preconceived notions and immersing oneself in the context of the problem for better
understanding. In simple words, through empathy, one is able to put oneself in other
people's shoes and connect with how they might be feeling about their problem,
circumstance, or situation.
There is a challenge one needs to solve. How does one approach it? Empathy
starts from here. As a designer of the solution to a challenge, one should always
understand the problem from the end-user perspective. This is done by observation,
interaction or by imagination.
Designers are expected to interact with customers / users very frequently to gather
detailed facts about the problems and user’s expectations. A detailed analysis of these facts
leads to approaching the problem in the best possible way.

Empathy MapAn extremely useful tool for understanding the users’ needs and gaining a
deeper insight into the problem at hand is the empathy map. It also helps in deepening that
understanding, gaining insight into the user’s behavior.

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To create a “persona” or profile for the user, you can use the empathy map activity to
create a realistic general representation of the user or users. Personas can include details
about a user’s education, lifestyle, interests, values, goals, needs, thoughts, desires,
attitudes, and actions.

An Empathy Map is divided into 4 quadrants. —Says, Thinks, Does, Feels

● Says – This quadrant contains whatever the user says aloud
● Thinks – This quadrant depicts the thoughts which user have about the problem
● Does –This quadrant depicts the actions of user
● Feels – This quadrant displays the emotional status of the user.

Creating Empathy Map

Draw the Empathy map grid as shown above. Write down the respective observations
in corresponding quadrants. These observations can be written directly or can paste a sticky
note with the observations in the quadrants. Let us understand through an example. Anakha
is having a desktop computer. She is planning to buy one new Laptop for her educational
purpose. Let us create an Empathy map for Anakha.

Empathy Map for Anakha

Online tool to create Empathy Map

https://online.visual-paradigm.com/diagrams/features/empathy-map-template/
Reference:https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/empathy-map

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1. Ashmitha daily drives to her office and back. The Office is hardly 30 minutes’ drive from
her home. However, due to traffic jams, it takes more than 1 hour. Ashmitha is hoping for
a solution to this traffic issue. Prepare an Empathy map related to Ashmitha.

ii) Define
In the Define stage, information collected during Empathize is used to draw insights
and is instrumental in stating the problem that needs to be solved. It's an opportunity for
the design thinker to define the challenge or to write the problem statement in a human-
centered manner with a focus on the unmet needs of the users.
In order to extract / gather relevant facts and information from users/customers, it is
recommended to use this simple and reliable method of questioning: the 5W1H method–
i.e. asking questions starting with Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
For Example,
For the traffic issue in a city, we could define the problem in detail after getting the answers
of 5W1H questions. Sample questions of the problem is given below

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1. Considering Ashmitha’s traffic issue answer the following questions given below in order
to help define the problem.

a. Who is the sufferer of the Problem?

All the people who travel through the traffic area.
b. What is the Problem?
Due to heavy traffic, people are not able to reach the office on time, all are wasting a lot
of time.
c. Where does it happen?
In busy streets, places with bad roads, Accident prone areas.
d. When can it happen usually?
Especially during the morning and evening hours when schools/offices start and ends.
e. Why does it happen?
It may happen due to many reasons such as:
a. Bad Roads, b. Accidents, c. Office Hours, d. Rash Driving, e. Inappropriate Signals,
f. Over Crowded Area
f. How can it be solved?
It can be solved by developing a system which could prevent intense traffic by giving
some suggestions
iii) Ideate
By now the problem is obvious and it is time to brainstorm ways and methods to solve
it. At this stage, numerous ideas are generated as a part of the problem-solving exercise. In
short, ideation is all about idea generation. During brainstorming, one should not be
concerned if the generated ideas are possible, feasible, or even viable. The only task of the
thinkers is to think of as many ideas as possible for them. It requires "going wide" mentally
in terms of concepts and outcomes. There are many brainstorming tools that can be used
during this stage. Here is an overview of the most essential ideation techniques employed
to generate numerous ideas.
Brainstorm
During a Brainstorming session, students leverage the synergy of the group to generate
new innovative ideas by building on others’ ideas. Participants should be able to discuss
their ideas freely without fear of criticism. A large number of ideas are collected so that
different options are available for solving the challenge.
Brain dump
Brain dump is very similar to Brainstorm; however, it’s done individually. It allows the
concerned person to open the mind and let the thoughts be released and captured onto a
piece of paper. The participants write down their ideas onto paper or post-it notes and
share their ideas later with the larger group.

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Brain writing
Brain writing is also very similar to a Brainstorm session and is known as ‘individual
brainstorming’. At times only the most confident of team members share their ideas while
the introverts keep the ideas to themselves. Brainwriting gives introverted people time to
write them down instead of sharing their thoughts out loud with the group. The participants
write down their ideas on paper and, after a few minutes, pass on their own piece of paper
to another participant who then elaborates on the first person’s ideas and so forth. In this
way all participants pass their papers on to someone else and the process continues. After
about 15 minutes, the papers are collected and posted for instant discussion.
During brainstorming, one should not be concerned if the generated ideas are
possible, feasible, or even viable. The only task of the thinkers is to think of as many ideas
as possible for them. It requires "going wide" mentally in terms of concepts and outcomes.
It is all about creativity and imagination; all types of ideas are encouraged, whether stupid
or wise – it hardly matters as long as the solution is imagined.
After everyone shares their ideas, specific measures are applied to evaluate the ideas
without being judgmental or critical to narrow the list. It may so happen that the solution
comes from the unlikeliest of ideas. So, at this point focus is on quantity over quality of
ideas. The most feasible ideas are chosen for further exploration. Storyboarding, or making
a visual mock-up of an idea, can also be useful during ideation.

1. For the traffic problems in a city, brainstorm and generate different ideas as a team.

Some of the ideas generated by brainstorming a team is given below

1. Give alternate route suggestions through Digital boards kept at important junctions
identifying the traffic so that it could control traffic getting worsen
2. Make some system so that the percentage of road issues and the severity of traffic
issue can be predicted. It may be seriously taken by officials and they will consider
repairing of roads.
3. Keep track of rash driving persons. If more than one time the rash driving person
causes traffic issues, his/her license can be cancelled.
4. Make some systems to clear the area immediately when accidents occur, so that traffic
doesn’t cause issue
5. Signaling system should be rearranged if found inappropriate
6. Announce the traffic areas live, so other people won’t drive into traffic area
7. Introduce Intelligent Traffic Signal.

[ All these are ideas and does not require to be implemented]

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iv) Prototype
The prototype stage involves creating a model designed to solve consumers'
problems which is tested in the next stage of the process. Creating a prototype is not a
detailed process. It may include a developing simple drawing, poster, group role-playing,
homemade “gadget, or a 3d printed product.” The prototypes must be quick and easy to
develop and cheap. Therefore, prototypes are visualized as rudimentary forms of what a
final product is expected to look like. Prototyping is intended to answer questions that get
you closer to your final solution. Prototypes, though quick and simple to make, bring out
useful feedback from users. Prototypes can be made with everyday materials also.

1. Through a poster or simple drawing depict a prototype for any one solution for the traffic
issue.

v) Test
One of the most important parts of the design thinking process is to test the prototypes
with the end users. This step is often seen going parallel to prototyping. During testing, the
designers receive feedback about the prototype(s), and get another opportunity to interact
and empathize with the people they are finding solutions for. Testing focuses on what can
be learned about the user and the problem, as well as the potential solution.

1. Show the prototype made by you to your parents/teachers/relatives who usually get
stuck in traffic issues. Collect the feedback from them and understand whether your
prototype will work or not. Write down the views your users shared and the conclusion
you arrived.
Response after Testing the Prototype:
• Very good if it controls the traffic
• What happens if from all sides equal traffic block comes in a road
• Will be good before traffic jam.

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3. Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs. The global
community is witnessing a transition
towards a sustainable future. To
achieve a sustainable future, 17
goals have been announced by the
United Nations which are termed as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Projects undertaken all over the world play a crucial role in fulfilling this task by aligning
their strategies and vision with the sustainable development goals and targets.
Students can select any problem based on SDG to find an AI solution for it.
For example:
SDG 2 was adopted to achieve “Zero Hunger”. That means it is essential to recognize that
the successful transformation of our current food systems (shift to a sustainable food
system) should tackle the main global challenges in a sustainable, healthy, and inclusive
manner. Healthy food habits, food Supply to all areas, consumption of food as per the
production, Seasonal Foods etc. are the areas where students can concentrate for
identifying problems and try to derive simple AI based solution.
Some other use cases of the SDGs are given below
● Good health and well being
● Gender equality
● Renewable energy
● Combating hunger and poverty
● Protecting resources
● Promoting responsible consumption and production
● Providing access to education
● Sustainable and safe cities and communities

1. Write down a few problems which you notice from any five SDGs which can be taken up
as a Capstone project.
a. Quality Education:
i. Providing education remotely, leveraging hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches;
ii. Ensure coordinated responses and avoid overlapping efforts;
iii. Ensuring return of students to school when they reopen to avoid an upsurge in dropout
rates.

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b. Reduced inequalities:
i. Reduction of relative economic inequalities inequality in some countries having poorest
and most vulnerable communities.
ii. Improving the situations in countries with weaker health systems.

c. Life on Land:
i. Prevention of Deforestation caused by humans and restoration of land
ii. Preventions and cure of diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans

d. No Poverty
i. Creation of Strong social protection systems to prevent people from falling into poverty
ii. Reduction of social exclusion, and high vulnerability of certain populations to disasters
and diseases.
iii. Responsible distribution of resources.

e. Clean Water and Sanitation

i. To increase access to clean drinking water and sanitation mostly in rural areas
ii. Managing our water sustainably to manage our production of food and energy

4. Project Abstract Creation Using Design Thinking Framework

We can now choose a problem (capstone project) and check how it can be detailed
using Design Thinking Framework.
Format for Project Abstract Creation
1. Project Name:
2. Team Members Name:
3. Problem Selection –Important issue which you think can be solved using AI by doing
survey or interview and which is aligned to any of the SDGs.
4. Users Affected by the Problem
5. Empathise – create Empathy Map
6. Define the Problem – Write down the 5W1H questions and write the problem statement
7. Ideate – Brainstorm and write down the ideas
8. Prototype- create prototype by simple drawing, poster, group role-playing, homemade
“gadget, or a 3d printed product.”
9. Test (optional at this stage)

Now let us see an example

1. Project Name: {Suitable name related to your problem and your creativity}
2. Team Members Name: { Students can fill by themselves}
3. Problem Selection: After doing a survey amongst the school students who are in Class
X, it was observed that most of the students are confused about the subjects that they
have to choose in future.

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Details about the issue:
While taking admission to plus-two courses, students are confused with subject selection.
To provide quality education students should be provided with the subjects in which they
have aptitude. A system to analyze their interests, choose subjects from the available
options and choose the institutions which provide those subjects are a big problem.
After seeing the issue, it was aligned to SDG-4, Quality Education.

4. Users:
All the students who pass class X face the issue of selecting an appropriate subject for their
higher studies as it is their turning point to move on according to their interest.
5. Empathise:
Two categories of students can be met and interviewed.
● First—Those students who are studying in plus-two (to know how difficult it was to
choose a subject and a school)
● Second—Those students who are going to take admission (can know about their
anxieties and expectations)
After the discussion with students, Team members can sit together and finalize the points
they understood from the users(students). They can write each in a chit of paper, classify it
into the categories SAYS, THINKS, DOES & FEELS. Now they can create an Empathy Map.
A sample empathy map is given below.

6. Define
After Empathetically understanding the students, the problem may be defined.
Get the Answers of 5W1H Questions. Write down the Problem Statement.

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5W1H Questions & Answers
Who?
1. Who are the users?
Students seeking admission in plus-two course
2. Who else can be the users?
Parents/well-wishers who seek admission for their wards
3. What do you know about the users?
Users are students who are interested in taking plus-two admissions. Students have well
defined future plans. Now they have to select the appropriate subject as per their plan.

What?
1. What is the Problem?
Not able to select the subject of their choice
2. What else are the Problems?
They can't choose the school which provides these subjects.

Where?
1.Where is the problem/ In which situation does the problem arises.?
All the places where admission takes place & all the place where students wish to take
admission the problem persists.

When?
1. When does the problem occur?
Problem occurs during the time of admission

Why?
1. Why does the problem occur?
Problem occurs due to the lack of knowledge of subjects available as part of the
curriculum
2. Why should it be solved?
Only if students pursue the course, they have aptitude, a well-developed society can be
built in future.

How
1. How can we solve it?
Through a system which will analyze a student's aptitude and suggests the subject to take.
After checking the database, the system can suggest the schools giving the subject
combinations also.
2. How will the solution improve the situation?
The solution could help students in choosing the appropriate subjects and could give
effective education.

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PROBLEM STATEMENT
Our students have the problem of not being able to choose the subjects of their interest
while taking admission to their plus-two course and it can be solved by developing a
system which will analyze students’ aptitude and suggest the subject to take.

7. Ideate
As a team students can discuss and put forward different ideas to implement the solution
1. Create an application to input the interest and get suggestions on subjects
2. Create a chatbot to converse with
3. Make a robot to discuss with and give advice
4. Create a mobile application where through different sources queries can be given
and the application will give the result.

8. Prototype
Select any one idea and prepare the prototype of the solution - Here we select the idea of
creating a chatbot to give the solution

Prototype of Working of a chatbot

Details of intents and entities can be drawn separately to display the prototype in
detail. (Leaving it to the creativity of students)

Note for Teachers

• Students can elaborate any part of the Prototype if they wish.
• Students should Write some intents and its entities and the expected outcomes. They
can compare these expected outcomes with others opinion who checks these. Thus,
testing phase can be conducted. (if needed)

EXERCISES
A. OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS
1. Which is NOT correct about the Capstone project?
a. It is a project where students must research independently
b. Students can integrate all their knowledge to develop a solution to the
problem
c. It is the final project of an academic program.
d. Students are made to look at real world situations, exchange their point of
view and discuss potential solutions to the problem.

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2. Which is the fundamental question which is asked before deciding to embark on an
AI development journey?
a. Should we do the project?
b. Is there a solution?
c. Can we leave the problem?
d. Is there a pattern?
3. The question, 'which option should be taken?' comes under which category?
a. Classification
b. Regression
c. Anomaly detection
d. Recommendation
4. Which stage in Design Thinking is missing (Prototype, Ideate, Test, Define)?
a. Evaluation
b. Empathise
c. Evolution
d. Enrichment
5. Real computational tasks are complicated. To accomplish them, you need to _____
before coding.
a. Test the problem causing variables
b. Ask for finance help from stakeholders
c. Break down the problem into smaller units
d. write it in a paper and read it to your partners
6. Which one is not a part of the 5W1H method?
a. Who
b. While
c. Where
d. When
7. _______ is the process of generating ideas and solutions through sessions such as
sketching, brainstorming etc.
a. Define
b. Empathise
c. Ideate
d. Prototype
8. Which one among the following is known as individual brainstorming?
a. Brainwriting
b. Brain dump
c. Brainstorm
d. Brain explore

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 9. _____ is a useful process during ideation.
a. Storyboarding
b. Empathy map
c. Prototyping
d. Data collection
10. The _____ stage involves creating a model designed to solve consumer’s problems
in Design Thinking.
a. Modeling
b. Prototype
c. Training
d. Deployment
11. _________ Analysis helps in identifying the patterns by asking different questions
which fall into different approaches.
a. Predictive
b. Prescriptive
c. Probability
d. Prototype
ANSWERS
1. a. It is a project where students must research independently
2. d. Is there a pattern?
3. d. Recommendation
4. b.Empathise
5. c. Break down the problem into smaller units
6. b.While
7. c.Ideate
8. a.Brain Writing
9. a.Storyboarding
10. b. Prototype
11. a.Predictive

B. Short Answer Questions

1. What do you mean by a capstone project
The final project of an academic program, typically integrating all of the learning from the
program is called the Capstone Project. A capstone project is a project where students must
research a topic, deeply understand the subject matter and integrate all their knowledge to
develop a solution to a problem.

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 • Keep breaking down until all of the pieces are small.
4. Code one small piece at a time.
• Think about how to implement it and write the code/query
• Test it on its own and Fix problems, if any

2. Explain briefly the different stages of Design thinking

There are five stages of Design Thinking. They are: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype,
and Test.

i)Empathize:
Design thinking begins with empathy. It allows designers to understand, empathize and
share the feelings of the users. As a designer of the solution to a challenge, one should
always understand the problem from the end-user perspective. This is done by observation,
interaction or by imagination.
Designers interact with customers / users very frequently to gather detailed facts about the
problems and user’s expectations. A detailed analysis of these facts leads to approaching
the problem in the best possible way.

ii) Define
In the Define stage, information collected during Empathize is used to draw insights and is
instrumental in stating the problem that needs to be solved. It's an opportunity for the
design thinker to define the challenge or to write the problem statement in a human-
cantered manner with a focus on the unmet needs of the users. 5W1H method of asking
questions can be implemented here.

iii) Ideate
Ideation is the process of generating ideas and solutions through sessions such as
sketching, brainstorming etc. At this stage, numerous ideas are generated as a part of the
problem-solving exercise. In short, ideation is all about idea generation. Brainstorm, Brain
write and Brain dump can be used for ideate stage.

iv) Prototype
The prototype stage involves creating a model designed to solve consumers' problems
which is tested in the next stage of the process. Creating a prototype may include a
developing simple drawing, poster, group role-playing, homemade “gadget, or a 3d printed
product.” The prototypes must be quick and easy to develop and cheap. Therefore,
prototypes are visualized as rudimentary forms of what a final product is expected to look
like.

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v) Test
During testing, the designers receive feedback about the prototype(s), and get another
opportunity to interact and empathize with the people they are finding solutions for. Testing
focuses on what can be learned about the user and the problem, as well as the potential
solution.

3. Explain the different types of Ideation techniques

Different ideation techniques are brainstorm, brain dump and brain writing

Brainstorm
During a Brainstorming session, students leverage the synergy of the group to generate new
innovative ideas by building on others’ ideas. Participants should be able to discuss their
ideas freely without fear of criticism. A large number of ideas are collected so that different
options are available for solving the challenge.

Brain dump
Brain dump is very similar to Brainstorm; however, it’s done individually. It allows the
concerned person to open the mind and let the thoughts be released and captured onto a
piece of paper. The participants write down their ideas onto paper or post-it notes and share
their ideas later with the larger group.

Brain writing
Brain writing is also very similar to a Brainstorm session and is known as ‘individual
brainstorming’. At times only the most confident of team members share their ideas while
the introverts keep the ideas to themselves. Brainwriting gives introverted people time to
write them down instead of sharing their thoughts out loud with the group. The participants
write down their ideas on paper and, after a few minutes, pass on their own piece of paper
to another participant who then elaborates on the first person’s ideas and so forth. In this
way all participants pass their papers on to someone else and the process continues. After
about 15 minutes, the papers are collected and posted for instant discussion.

D. Case Study
1. Based on SDG-7, Affordable and clean energy, formulate a Problem and write down the
Design thinking steps associated with it
SDG-7, Affordable and clean energy
Problem – Inefficient usage of Electric/Electronic Appliances and wastage of energy
Design Thinking Steps
Empathize: Talk with people and understand how they are using the electric/electronic
devices. Are they using it whole day or in a limited. Do they know how to use. Whether they
are using it smoothly or roughly without knowing the usage. Understand whether there is
wastage of energy and people are aware of it.

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 c. Arrange peer support programs based on the feedback and best practices identified.
Create a "help-seeking is cool" campaign to encourage students to utilize available
resources. Continuously monitor and adapt the program based on its effectiveness.
d. Analyze the empathy map to define the core problem statement.
e. Implement the training materials (scripts, mockups) in small groups and gather
feedback from participants.
Arrange the steps in the correct order.
Ans- The correct order for the steps in Shilpa's student wellbeing initiative, aligned
with the design thinking process, is:
a. Conduct interviews and focus groups with students, parents, teachers, and mental
health professionals. (Empathize Stage)
d. Analyze the empathy map to define the core problem statement. (Define Stage)
b. Develop mockups of potential solutions like support groups, scripts for intervention
training, or pilot programs for mindfulness exercises. (Ideate Stage)
e. Implement the training materials (scripts, mockups) in small groups and gather
feedback from participants. (Prototype Stage)
c. Arrange peer support programs based on the feedback and best practices identified.
Create a "help-seeking is cool" campaign to encourage students to utilize available
resources. Continuously monitor and adapt the program based on its effectiveness.
(Test Stage)

3. You live in Darjeeling, a beautiful hill station. Due to heavy rains, landslides have
damaged the roads, leaving the town temporarily isolated. Your school is closed, and
online learning is the only option available. How do you feel about not being able to
attend school in person and facing challenges with remote learning? Draw an empathy
map to illustrate your thoughts, feelings, and experiences during this unexpected
situation.

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4. Mr. Muthu Kumar is facing a serious issue of high electricity bill every month. He
is trying a lot to reduce it. Considering his issue is worth solving, draw an empathy
map related to Muthu Kumar.

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 5. A small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, known for its beautiful beaches and
colorful coral reefs, is in trouble. The sea level is rising, which is causing the shores
to erode and making the land salty where plants used to grow. Most of the buildings
and roads are near the coast, so they are at risk from the rising sea and strong
storms. Because of these problems, it is harder for people to grow food like they
used to, and they might not have enough to eat.
Which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can you align the above scenario
with?
Ans:
• Zero Hunger (SDG 2)
• Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11)
• Climate Action (SDG 13).

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