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Year 9

Explore contexts and empathise

I can explore contexts and empathise with users.

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New
New
Year 9

Explore contexts and empathise

I can explore contexts and empathise with users.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Designers show empathy when exploring contexts.
  2. Empathy is having the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another person.
  3. Showing empathy supports designing because it helps designers better understand what users really need, feel and want.
  4. A user journey map can support showing empathy with users.
  5. Exploring experiences can give designers insight into the needs and wants of users.

Keywords

  • User - who you are designing for

  • Needs - basic requirements that are essential for an individual's survival, health, and well-being

  • Wants - desires or wishes for non-essential items or experiences

  • Empathy - the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another person

Common misconception

Exploring the context should happen quickly so that you can get to the most important phase of designing.

Designing is an important phase. However, taking the time to really explore the context and understand the users needs and wants will provide solid foundations for successful designing.


To help you plan your year 9 design and technology lesson on: Explore contexts and empathise, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Giving pupils the oppoutunity to talk to real people about individual situations and contexts will reinforce empthy and understanding, which will inform designing.
Teacher tip

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the correct definition of product development?
Correct answer: the steps to create or improve a product
how products change and improve over time
a demand from people that drives the creation of new products
new innovations or advancements in technology drive the creation of new products
Q2.
Put the stages of the design process in the correct order.
1 - empathise
2 - define
3 - ideate
4 - prototype
5 - test
Q3.
User Centred Design (UCD) is all about putting the user .
Correct Answer: first, central
Q4.
Product evolution originates from which two reasons?
Correct answer: market pull
market push
tehcnology pull
Correct answer: technology push
Q5.
The situation where something happens or exists is ...
Correct answer: the context
the pattern
the prototype
the design
the outcome
Q6.
What does exploring mean in relation to the design process
testing a finished product
Correct answer: researching, generating and testing ideas before choosing a solution
choosing the colour scheme for a project
writing a report to present the completed design

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Complete the sentence. A user is you are designing for.
Correct Answer: whom, who, the person
Q2.
A user's needs are basic requirements that are for an individual's survival, health, and well-being.
Correct Answer: essential, necessary, needed, important
Q3.
What are user wants?
Correct answer: desires or wishes for non-essential items or experiences
the technical requirements for the product
the basic essential requirements of a product
Q4.
Why is showing empathy important when designing?
Correct answer: It helps designers better understand what users really need, feel and want.
It helps designers think about the latest trends.
It helps designers understand how much the product will sell for.
Q5.
Which of the following best explains why exploring the context is a critical part of the design process?
It can be rushed through quickly so that the real work of designing can begin.
Correct answer: It helps uncover insights that inform meaningful and effective design solutions.
It is only necessary if the problem seems especially complex or unfamiliar.
Q6.
What is user journey mapping?
Correct answer: Breaking a task, service, system or experience down into individual steps
A brainstorming tool used to generate as many design ideas as possible
Mapping where a user might buy a product