Activity 01
Persona Creation: Classmate Interviews
Students pair up and interview each other about a daily routine, like getting ready for school. They focus on asking 'why' questions to uncover deeper needs and challenges. Afterwards, each student creates a simple persona for their partner, including their 'likes,' 'dislikes,' and 'needs' related to the routine.
Differentiate between what a user says and what they actually need.
Facilitation TipDuring the Role-Playing Scenarios activity, encourage students to fully embody the character's emotions and challenges, prompting them to think about what the user might *feel* rather than just what they *say*.
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Activity 02
Observation Station: Playground Needs
Students observe a small group of peers interacting during a supervised play activity. They record observations about what students are doing, saying, and any challenges they seem to face. Afterwards, the class discusses their observations, identifying potential unmet needs or frustrations.
Explain how empathy influences the design process.
Facilitation TipDuring the Persona Creation activity, remind students to listen for unspoken cues and ask clarifying follow-up questions, as the core of interviewing for empathy lies beyond surface-level answers.
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Activity 03
Role-Playing Scenarios: User Challenges
Present students with simple scenarios of users facing challenges (e.g., a younger sibling struggling to open a snack, a friend who can't find a specific toy). Students role-play the scenario, first as the user experiencing the problem, then as the designer trying to understand and help.
Construct a user persona based on research findings.
Facilitation TipDuring the Observation Station activity, guide students to focus on non-verbal cues and the context of the interaction, helping them infer underlying needs from observed behaviors.
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Generate Complete Lesson→A few notes on teaching this unit
Teaching empathy requires moving beyond definitions to embodied practice. Focus on creating structured opportunities for students to practice active listening and careful observation. Explicitly model how to ask open-ended questions and how to interpret body language and context to uncover deeper user needs.
Successful learning looks like students actively listening during interviews, thoughtfully observing their peers, and beginning to articulate the potential needs behind spoken requests. They should demonstrate an ability to consider a situation from another's perspective.
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
During Persona Creation, students may assume that what their classmate directly states as a preference is their only or deepest need.
Prompt students to reflect after the interview: 'Did your partner mention anything they wished was different, or any small difficulty they encountered? That might point to a deeper need.' Encourage them to use their observations to infer needs not explicitly stated.
During Role-Playing Scenarios, students might confuse empathy with simply agreeing with the character's stated problem.
After the role-play, facilitate a discussion asking: 'Even though you understood why [character] was frustrated, what might have been a different way to approach the situation?' This helps them separate understanding from agreement.
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