root@vm-learning
~
$
open
ch-b4
PART B ▪ UNIT 4
09
Introduction to Capstone Project
Design Thinking · Empathy Map · SDGs · Project Abstract
A Capstone Project is a project where students research a topic, deeply understand the subject matter, and integrate all their knowledge to develop a solution to a real-world problem. The AI Capstone gives you an opportunity to implement the AI skills you have learnt as a final showcase of your expertise. This unit teaches you the Design Thinking methodology for identifying issues, building Empathy Maps, using the 5W1H question framework, and aligning your project with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Learning Outcome: Decompose problems with 5W1H · Apply Design Thinking · Create Empathy Maps · Align with SDGs · Solve real-world problems and express solutions in non-technical words
1.1 What is a Capstone Project?
A capstone project is the final integrative project of an academic programme. In AI, it lets students show they can use everything they learnt — problem-solving, Python programming, data literacy, ethics — to solve a real-world issue.
Skills you develop during a Capstone
👥 Team workWorking as a team member on a shared goal.
🔍 Problem identificationClearly identifying an issue and its impact on users.
💡 BrainstormingGenerating solutions and selecting the best one.
🤖 Choosing the right AIDeciding which type of AI suits the proposed solution.
📊 Ethical data useGathering data ethically, training the model responsibly.
🧪 Testing with usersTesting the prototype and iterating on feedback.
🎤 PitchingPresenting the solution to people who can take action.
Capstone Project — Example Ideas
📈 Stock Prices Predictor
🗣️ Sentiment Analyzer
🎟️ Movie Ticket Price Predictor
🎓 Students Results Predictor
📱 Human Activity Recognition (smartphone data)
🐕 Classifying Humans vs Animals in Photos
1.2 Asking the Right Question — "Is there a Pattern?"
Before starting any AI project, ask yourself: "Is there a pattern?" If the problem has no pattern, AI cannot solve it. Patterns are the fundamental requirement for AI.
Five Predictive-Analysis Categories
| Question you ask | AI technique used |
|---|---|
| Which category? | Classification |
| How much or how many? | Regression |
| Which group? | Clustering |
| Is this unusual? | Anomaly Detection |
| Which option should be taken? | Recommendation |
1.3 Problem Decomposition — 4 Steps
Complex problems cannot be solved as-is. We simplify them by breaking them into smaller, manageable pieces.
1Understand
Restate the problem in your own words. Know the desired inputs and outputs. Ask questions for clarification.
Restate the problem in your own words. Know the desired inputs and outputs. Ask questions for clarification.
2Break Big Pieces
Split the problem into a few large parts. Write them down (paper or comments in a file).
Split the problem into a few large parts. Write them down (paper or comments in a file).
3Break Small Pieces
Keep breaking complicated pieces down further until each piece is small and tractable.
Keep breaking complicated pieces down further until each piece is small and tractable.
4Code & Test
Code one small piece at a time · test each · fix problems · combine.
Code one small piece at a time · test each · fix problems · combine.
Example — Traffic Jams during office hours.
Step 1: "Public faces difficulty due to traffic jams during busy office hours."
Step 2: Break into reasons — a) Bad Roads · b) Accidents · c) Office Hours · d) Rash Driving · e) Inappropriate Signals · f) Over-Crowded Area.
Step 3: Break complicated pieces further. E.g., Rash Driving → a) Over-speed · b) New drivers with less experience · c) Careless driving.
Step 4: Take each issue and find its solution.
Step 1: "Public faces difficulty due to traffic jams during busy office hours."
Step 2: Break into reasons — a) Bad Roads · b) Accidents · c) Office Hours · d) Rash Driving · e) Inappropriate Signals · f) Over-Crowded Area.
Step 3: Break complicated pieces further. E.g., Rash Driving → a) Over-speed · b) New drivers with less experience · c) Careless driving.
Step 4: Take each issue and find its solution.
1.4 Critical & Creative Thinking
🧠 Critical Thinking
Ability to analyse a situation and make a judgement based on facts and data. Used to question the problem, gather evidence and formulate well-reasoned conclusions.🎨 Creative Thinking
Ability to come up with new ideas and solutions. Used to brainstorm, imagine, and invent approaches nobody else has tried.
Both skills are essential for social change-makers, leaders, and innovators. A systematic approach combining both is called Design Thinking.
1.5 Introduction to Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a non-linear, iterative process used by expert teams to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. It is especially useful for complex, ill-defined problems.
1.6 The Five Stages of Design Thinking
❤️1. EmpathizeUnderstand users
🎯2. DefineState the problem
💡3. IdeateGenerate ideas
🛠️4. PrototypeBuild a model
🧪5. TestVerify with users
Stage 1: Empathize
Design thinking begins with empathy. Immerse yourself in the context of the problem — put yourself in the users' shoes and connect with how they feel about their problem or situation. Gather facts through observation, interaction and imagination. Designers interview customers frequently to learn the users' expectations.
Stage 2: Define
Information collected during Empathize is used to state the problem that needs to be solved. Write a human-centred problem statement that focuses on the unmet needs of the users. The 5W1H method (see §1.8) is the standard way to extract the facts.
Stage 3: Ideate
Now brainstorm ways to solve the problem. Generate as many ideas as possible — do not worry if they are feasible. "Going wide" mentally matters more than being realistic. Later, evaluate ideas to narrow the list. The most feasible ideas are chosen for exploration. Storyboarding (visual mock-up) helps.
Stage 4: Prototype
Create a model designed to solve the problem. A prototype is not a finished product — it can be a simple drawing, poster, group role-play, homemade gadget, or a 3D-printed item. Prototypes must be quick, cheap, easy to develop. Their purpose is to get closer to the final solution and extract user feedback.
Stage 5: Test
Test the prototype with end users. Receive feedback. Interact and empathise again with users. Testing teaches you about the user, the problem, and the potential solution — and often runs in parallel with prototyping.
1.7 The Empathy Map — A Tool for Stage 1
An Empathy Map is a grid divided into 4 quadrants. It helps you create a persona (realistic profile) of the user — education, lifestyle, interests, values, goals, needs, thoughts, desires, attitudes, and actions.
The Four Quadrants
🗣️ Says
What the user says aloud.💭 Thinks
Thoughts the user has about the problem.🏃 Does
Actions the user takes.😟 Feels
Emotional state of the user.
Empathy Map — Anakha wants a new laptop.
Says: "My desktop is too bulky to carry between classes."
Thinks: "I wish I could work on assignments from anywhere."
Does: Compares laptop brands online, reads reviews, visits electronics stores.
Feels: Excited but anxious about the cost and picking the wrong model.
Says: "My desktop is too bulky to carry between classes."
Thinks: "I wish I could work on assignments from anywhere."
Does: Compares laptop brands online, reads reviews, visits electronics stores.
Feels: Excited but anxious about the cost and picking the wrong model.
Practical (Syllabus): Create an empathy map for a given scenario. Example from handbook — Ashmitha's 30-minute commute takes 1 hour due to traffic jams. Build an empathy map capturing what she Says / Thinks / Does / Feels.
Online tool: Visual Paradigm (online.visual-paradigm.com/diagrams/features/empathy-map-template) · IBM Design Thinking toolkit (ibm.com/design/thinking).
1.8 The 5W1H Method — A Tool for Stage 2 (Define)
Use these 6 questions to extract the facts and write a crisp problem statement.
👤Who?The user / sufferer
❓What?The problem itself
📍Where?Location / context
⏰When?Time / frequency
💡Why?Root cause
🛠️How?Possible solution
Traffic issue 5W1H:
Who? Office-goers like Ashmitha.
What? Commute takes 2× longer than expected.
Where? City main roads during peak hours.
When? Weekday mornings (9-10 am) and evenings (6-7 pm).
Why? Overcrowding, bad signals, rash driving.
How? AI-based smart traffic signals, route optimisation apps.
Who? Office-goers like Ashmitha.
What? Commute takes 2× longer than expected.
Where? City main roads during peak hours.
When? Weekday mornings (9-10 am) and evenings (6-7 pm).
Why? Overcrowding, bad signals, rash driving.
How? AI-based smart traffic signals, route optimisation apps.
1.9 Three Ideation Techniques (Stage 3)
🗯️
Brainstorm
Group activity. Students discuss ideas freely without fear of criticism. Each person builds on others' ideas. Many options get surfaced for the challenge.📝
Brain Dump
Individual activity. Very similar to Brainstorm but solo. A person opens the mind and writes all thoughts on paper / post-its, then shares later with the group.✍️
Brain Writing
Also called "individual brainstorming". Introverts get time to write thoughts. Papers are passed around — each participant elaborates on someone else's idea. After ~15 minutes, papers are collected and discussed.
Ideation rule: focus on quantity over quality. Stupid or wise — it doesn't matter. Encourage all ideas. Evaluate later.
1.10 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In 2015 the United Nations announced 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a blueprint for a better, more sustainable future by 2030.
The 17 SDGs — At a Glance
| # | Goal | # | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Poverty | 10 | Reduced Inequalities |
| 2 | Zero Hunger | 11 | Sustainable Cities & Communities |
| 3 | Good Health & Well-being | 12 | Responsible Consumption & Production |
| 4 | Quality Education | 13 | Climate Action |
| 5 | Gender Equality | 14 | Life Below Water |
| 6 | Clean Water & Sanitation | 15 | Life on Land |
| 7 | Affordable & Clean Energy | 16 | Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions |
| 8 | Decent Work & Economic Growth | 17 | Partnerships for the Goals |
| 9 | Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure | ||
Popular SDG Themes for AI Capstone Projects
🏥 Good Health & Well-being(SDG 3)
👩🤝👨 Gender Equality(SDG 5)
⚡ Renewable Energy(SDG 7)
🍎 Hunger & Poverty(SDG 1, 2)
🌳 Protecting Resources(SDG 14, 15)
♻️ Responsible Production(SDG 12)
🎓 Access to Education(SDG 4)
🏙️ Sustainable & Safe Cities(SDG 11)
SDG 2 — Zero Hunger example: a successful transition needs a sustainable, healthy, inclusive food system. Students can target healthy food habits, food supply to all areas, consumption matching production, seasonal foods and build simple AI solutions.
1.11 Project Abstract Creation — Template
The CBSE practical assignment is to create a Project Abstract using the Design Thinking framework. Use this 9-point format:
| # | Section | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project Name | A suitable, creative name related to your problem. |
| 2 | Team Members | Names of all team members. |
| 3 | Problem Selection | The issue you will solve using AI, aligned to one or more SDGs. |
| 4 | Users Affected | Who faces this problem and how. |
| 5 | Empathise | The 4-quadrant Empathy Map you created. |
| 6 | Define | 5W1H question-answers plus the one-line problem statement. |
| 7 | Ideate | Brainstormed ideas from the team. |
| 8 | Prototype | Drawing, poster, role-play or gadget prototype of your chosen idea. |
| 9 | Test | Feedback from testing the prototype (optional at this stage). |
1.12 Walkthrough Example — Subject Selection Chatbot
1-4. Problem & Users
Project Name: "SubjectBuddy — AI Chatbot for Class-X students."
Problem: Most students finishing Class X are confused about which subjects to pick for Class XI. Needed: a system to analyse their interests, suggest the right subjects, and match them to institutions offering those subjects.
Aligned SDG: SDG 4 — Quality Education.
Users: All students passing Class X + their parents / well-wishers.
Problem: Most students finishing Class X are confused about which subjects to pick for Class XI. Needed: a system to analyse their interests, suggest the right subjects, and match them to institutions offering those subjects.
Aligned SDG: SDG 4 — Quality Education.
Users: All students passing Class X + their parents / well-wishers.
5. Empathise — Empathy Map (sample findings)
| 🗣️ Says / 🏃 Does | 💭 Thinks / 😟 Feels |
|---|---|
| Says: "I don't know which subjects to choose." Does: Asks parents, teachers, relatives; browses online forums. |
Thinks: "What if I pick the wrong stream and regret it later?" Feels: Anxious, pressured, confused. |
6. Define — 5W1H and Problem Statement
- Who? Class X students seeking Class XI admission (and their parents).
- What? Unable to select subjects matching their interests and aptitudes.
- Where? During admission at every school.
- When? At the Class XI admission window each year.
- Why? Lack of awareness of all subject options in the curriculum.
- How? An AI system that analyses aptitude and suggests subject combinations, plus schools offering them.
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; it can be solved by developing a system that will analyse students' aptitude and suggest the subject to take.
7. Ideate — Team's ideas
- An application where the student inputs interests and receives subject suggestions.
- A chatbot that converses with the student.
- A robot that interacts and advises.
- A mobile app that consults multiple sources and returns a recommendation.
8. Prototype — Chatbot
Pick the chatbot idea (Idea 2) and sketch how it works. On paper, draw: user input → intents and entities → subject suggestion → school suggestion. Details of intents and entities can be drawn separately.
1.13 Practical & Certification (Syllabus)
From the syllabus practical list:
- Create an empathy map for a given scenario.
- Project Abstract creation using the Design Thinking framework (§1.11 template).
- Earn a credential on IBM SkillsBuild — What is Design Thinking?
Quick Revision — Key Points to Remember
- Capstone Project = integrative final project where students research, apply AI skills and solve a real-world problem.
- Key pre-question: "Is there a pattern?" — without one, AI cannot help.
- 5 predictive-analysis categories: Classification · Regression · Clustering · Anomaly Detection · Recommendation.
- Problem decomposition (4 steps): Understand & restate → Break into big pieces → Break into smaller pieces → Code & test each piece.
- Critical Thinking = fact-based analysis. Creative Thinking = new idea generation. Combined → Design Thinking.
- Design Thinking = iterative, non-linear methodology for solving complex, ill-defined problems.
- 5 stages of Design Thinking: Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test.
- Empathy Map 4 quadrants: Says · Thinks · Does · Feels — builds a user persona.
- 5W1H method: Who · What · Where · When · Why · How — extract facts in Define stage.
- 3 ideation techniques: Brainstorm (group) · Brain Dump (solo) · Brain Writing (solo + pass-around).
- Ideation rule: quantity over quality; no criticism during idea generation.
- Prototype can be a drawing, poster, role-play, homemade gadget, or 3D-printed item — must be quick, cheap, easy.
- 17 SDGs announced by UN — development that meets present needs without compromising future generations.
- 9-point Project Abstract format: Name · Team · Problem · Users · Empathise · Define · Ideate · Prototype · Test.
- Certification: IBM SkillsBuild — What is Design Thinking?