Students will conduct firsthand user research to understand what moral lessons matter in their community today. Through interviews, empathy mapping, and structured reflection, they will gather real evidence from peers and family members to inform the original fables they will later design and perform.

Students will synthesize their empathy interviews into clear, research-grounded problem definitions that name a specific user, core need, and insight. Through theme clustering, persona creation, and peer critique, they will craft and refine a focused How Might We statement that will guide the design of their original fables in the next phase.

Students will generate a wide range of original fable concepts grounded in real user needs, apply structured creative-thinking strategies, evaluate ideas using evidence from empathy research, and produce annotated concept sketches that prepare them for prototyping.

Students will build and refine testable versions of their original fables and team performance plans, using real user and peer feedback to improve clarity of moral, character development, and audience engagement before the final exhibition phase.

Students will conduct a final validation round of their original fable performances with new users, refine their work based on documented feedback, and present their live fable exhibition and design journey to an authentic audience, demonstrating how user research, Ancient Greek storytelling traditions, and iterative revision shaped their final products.