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Plan
By Phase By Day Calendar
Empathize
Students will investigate how different members of the Albuquerque community experience and understand New Mexico history in order to ground their future parade float designs in real stories, needs, and misconceptions. Through direct interviews, observation, and structured empathy tools, students will gather evidence from at least two real users and translate that evidence into empathy maps and personas that will guide problem definition in the next phase.
Days 1 - 14
🎉 Meet Parade Stakeholders
Launch 65m
🧠 Empathy Mapping Workshop
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🎤 Interview Protocol Lab
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🎭 Practice Interviews & Feedback
Project Work 65m
👥 Second User Interviews
Community Experience 65m
🏘️ Community History Interviews
Community Experience 65m
🔎 Observation & Parade Context Walk
Research 65m
🗂️ Empathy Map Drafts
Deliverable 65m
🔄 Empathy Map Peer Critique
Deliverable 65m
👤 User Persona Creation
Deliverable 65m
📚 Source Triangulation Mini-Lesson
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🧾 Research & Interview Synthesis
Research 65m
🛑 Empathy Evidence Checkpoint
Assessment 65m

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Define
Students will synthesize their New Mexico history interviews and source research into a focused, user-centered problem statement that will guide the design of their parade float. They will identify patterns across multiple users, define a clear "How Might We" question grounded in evidence, and refine it through peer critique before advancing to ideation.
Days 15 - 28
🧩 Clustering Community Interview Quotes
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🗺️ Affinity Map Evidence Wall
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🎭 Evidence-Based User Persona
Deliverable 65m
🌳 Problem Tree of Misunderstanding
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
✏️ Drafting Parade Float HMW Statements
Deliverable 65m
🔍 Assumption Check Protocol
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🧠 Converging on One HMW
Project Work 65m
📜 Writing the Design Brief
Deliverable 65m
🗣️ Design Brief Peer Critique Round
Deliverable 65m
✅ Problem Definition Milestone
Assessment 65m

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Ideate
Students will generate a wide range of float concepts grounded in real user evidence, push beyond obvious first ideas using structured ideation strategies, and converge on 2–3 strong concepts supported by documented rationale tied directly to community needs and historical accuracy.
Days 29 - 46
🧠 Rapid Float Idea Sprint
Deliverable 65m
✏️ Crazy-8s Float Sketches
Deliverable 65m
🔍 SCAMPER the Historical Float
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🌎 Analogous Inspiration Gallery
Research 65m
🎨 Symbol & Storytelling Workshop
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
📣 Peer Concept Feedback Round
Deliverable 65m
📊 User-Need Decision Matrix
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🗳️ Converging on Top Concepts
Deliverable 65m
🖼️ User Journey Storyboards
Deliverable 65m
👥 Community Concept Critique
Community Experience 65m
🔁 Concept Revision Log
Deliverable 65m
✅ Concept Approval Pitch
Assessment 65m

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Prototype
Students will build, test, and revise increasingly sophisticated parade float prototypes that communicate a specific New Mexico historical event to a real audience. They will move from rapid cardboard mockups to detailed scale models, document user feedback, and produce an iteration log showing how community input improved historical clarity and audience engagement.
Days 47 - 68
🛠️ Durable Float Engineering Lab
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🎨 Symbol & Storytelling Workshop
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
📏 Scale Model Math Studio
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
📦 Rapid Cardboard Float V1
Project Work 65m
🔍 Peer Feedback Protocol Round 1
Deliverable 65m
🔄 Prototype V2 Revision Build
Project Work 65m
🧪 Community Walkthrough Testing
Community Experience 65m
📝 User Testing Synthesis Log
Deliverable 65m
🏗️ Detailed Scale Model V3
Project Work 65m
🎤 Peer Critique Round 2
Deliverable 65m
🔧 Final Prototype Refinement
Project Work 65m
📚 Prototype Iteration Portfolio Check
Assessment 65m

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Test/Present
Students will validate their refined parade float designs with new community users, make final evidence-based revisions, and publicly present their full-scale Community-Centered Historical Parade Float during the Albuquerque parade, clearly tracing design decisions back to user research and documented iterations.
Days 69 - 90
🗣️ New User Testing Protocols
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
👥 Fresh Eyes Float Testing
Community Experience 65m
🔁 V3 Float Revisions
Project Work 65m
📝 Design Journey Storyboard
Deliverable 65m
🎤 Presentation Craft Workshop
Knowledge/Skill Building 65m
🎥 Peer Feedback Roundtables
Deliverable 65m
🛠️ Final Float Build & Safety Check
Project Work 65m
🎙️ Dress Rehearsal with Guests
Community Experience 65m
🎉 Albuquerque Parade Exhibition
Assessment 65m
🏛️ Design Solution Presentation
Assessment 65m

Edit Phase

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