Bringing empathy into design thinking: how to spark meaningful learning in your classroom

Published 5th August 2025

Design and technology is about more than solving problems, it’s about solving problems for people. At the heart of great design lies empathy: understanding users, noticing challenges, and creating solutions that make everyday life easier, safer, or simply more enjoyable.

This way of thinking can completely transform how students approach their work. Our very own accessible controller ‘Inspired by Industry’ context developed with Scalextric4Schools, design driven by empathy shows students how to solve real problems for real people. And there’s no better way to make the design and technology classroom relevant, inclusive and inspiring.

A brilliant example: how empathy led to a better vegetable peeler

One of the best-known examples of empathy-led design is the story behind the OXO Good Grips peeler, a great case study to share with students. In 1989, Sam Farber noticed his wife struggling to use a standard vegetable peeler because of arthritis. This simple observation sparked a mission to design tools that were comfortable and easy for anyone to use, regardless of age or ability.

Farber worked with design firm Smart Design to research how people used kitchen tools, develop prototypes, and test ideas with users. The result? The now-iconic Y-shaped OXO Good Grips Peeler, with a soft, ergonomic handle designed to reduce strain and improve grip.

This story offers a fantastic entry point for classroom discussion around inclusive design, observation, and the role of empathy in real-world innovation.

From industry to the classroom: design with purpose

To help you bring these ideas into your own teaching, we’ve developed a free KS3 classroom context as part of ‘Inspired by Industry’ and created in collaboration with Scalextric4Schools, which asks you to consider the design of 'Accessible controllers'.

This resource gives students a hands-on, purposeful challenge: to redesign a slot car controller so it can be used by a wider range of people, including those with physical or sensory impairments. It mirrors the user-focused thinking seen in the OXO story but puts your students at the centre of the design process.

What students will do

The Accessible Controller context begins with user research, encouraging pupils to observe how existing controllers are used, identify challenges, and explore what makes a product difficult or uncomfortable for certain users.

From there, they move into ideation and rapid prototyping using materials like card, foam, or digital design tools such as 3D CAD. There’s also an opportunity to incorporate electronics using platforms like micro:bit or Crumble to add further functionality and challenge.

What’s important is the focus on iteration: students are encouraged to test and refine their ideas based on user feedback, just like real designers do.

Why this matters

By bringing empathy into the classroom, this project helps students:

• Understand the importance of user needs in design
• Develop skills in observation, analysis and problem-solving
• Learn the value of prototyping, testing and iteration
• Explore ergonomics and accessibility through hands-on activities
• Gain confidence in electronics and mechanical systems

Just like professional designers, they’ll begin to see that great ideas come from listening, watching and caring, not just from clever thinking.

Discover the Inspired by Industry: Accessible Controller context

You can access the Scalextric4Schools ‘Inspired by Industry’ context completely free via our website. Everything you need to get started is available at no cost, making it easy to introduce empathy, inclusive design, and real-world challenge into your KS3 lessons.

Explore the ‘Inspired by Industry’ Accessible Controller context here.

If you're a member of the Design & Technology Association, you’ll also unlock exclusive, member-only activities and tasks designed to add even more depth to your delivery, perfect for extending the challenge.

This isn’t just another classroom project. It’s a gateway to meaningful design learning, built to help you put empathy at the centre of your students’ work.

Free classroom poster: start with empathy

To support your teaching, we’ve also created a free downloadable poster all about empathy in design thinking. It’s ideal for displays, discussion prompts or use alongside ‘Inspired by Industry’.

Download the empathy in design thinking poster below. 

By embedding empathy through projects like this, you’re showing students that good design isn’t just clever, it’s caring. And with tools like ‘Inspired by Industry’, you’ve got everything you need to make it happen.