The HCD Lab · A Design Thinking Curriculum for Schools
Where students learn to solve real problems for real people.
A complete K–12 human-centred design programme, mapped to NEP 2020's 5+3+3+4 structure — delivered with curriculum, teacher training, and IIT Hyderabad DIC certification.
Not a room of equipment. A programme with a spine — age-graded, teacher-ready, and built around one non-negotiable rule: every child tests their ideas with real people.
Bring the HCD Lab to your school →One method, every age
The same five-movement cycle runs through the whole school — simplified for the youngest, made rigorous for the oldest.
Immerse
Observe real people in their real world.
Frame
Turn what you noticed into the right problem.
Imagine
Generate many possibilities before choosing.
Build
Prototype rough, cheap, and fast.
Test
Put it in front of real people and learn.
Held together by six mindsets: empathy · beginner's mind · comfort with ambiguity · bias to action · radical collaboration · systems awareness.
The curriculum, stage by stage
Four stages, matched to NEP 2020's structure. Tap any stage to open it.
Formal human-centred design begins. The heart of the HCD Lab — where NEP 2020's contemporary-subjects mandate is fully met, and where design thinking pairs naturally with tinkering.
What students do
- Immerse: field interviews & the two-column notebook (saw/heard vs think/feel)
- Frame: "How Might We" statements & the problem framing canvas
- Imagine: structured ideation — Idea Mela, deferring judgement
- Build: cardboard prototyping & the one-rupee prototype
- Test: the testing-table protocol — no explaining allowed
Sample project
Redesign the Everyday — teams pick a broken everyday experience (the canteen queue, the morning gate crush, the library system), run a full cycle over a term, and present tested prototypes to school leadership.
Outcomes
The complete method · interviewing · problem framing · collaborative ideation · iterative prototyping · user testing
Format
Dedicated weekly double period · a functioning HCD Lab space · term-long projects · pairs with Atal Tinkering Lab
What your school receives
A turnkey programme, not a set of files. Everything a school needs to run the lab from day one.
Curriculum
- Age-graded, class-wise curriculum across all four stages
- Term-by-term facilitator guides with session plans
- Student workbooks and project templates
- Rubrics aligned to NEP 2020 competency-based assessment
Teacher training
- Immersive facilitator training — teachers run a full cycle before teaching one
- Two-facilitator model (labs survive on redundancy, never one champion)
- Ongoing support and a community of practice
Certification
- IIT Hyderabad Design Innovation Centre co-branded certification
- Student certificates and teacher facilitator certification
Setup & recognition
- Lab setup toolkit — works with a converted classroom
- Materials lists by budget tier & ATL integration guidance
- Lighthouse School status for the founding cohort
- Annual inter-school HCD showcase
How we assess
Aligned to NEP 2020's shift from marks-for-memory to competency-based evaluation. We measure the two numbers that honestly show whether design thinking is happening: cycles completed and real users engaged — alongside reframes, portfolio growth, and competency rubrics for curiosity, empathy, collaboration, and iteration.
Not assessed: the prettiness of the final prototype.
Why it matters
It's the NEP 2020 mandate, delivered
NEP 2020 names design thinking as a contemporary subject (Section 4.23); NCF 2023 carries it into structure. The HCD Lab is how a school actually implements it — and documents it.
A return to Indian pedagogy
"Head, Heart and Hands" echoes Nai Talim and Santiniketan. This is not an American import bolted on — it is a structured return to pedagogies India practised first.
It completes your tinkering lab
Design thinking decides what to make and whether it works; the Atal Tinkering Lab provides the tools. Schools with both cover the full innovation cycle.
Built on the NID / Prof. M P Ranjan lineage · curriculum tradition adopted by Mahatma Gandhi University · delivered with IIT Hyderabad's Design Innovation Centre.
Questions from school leaders
Become a lighthouse school.
We are assembling a founding cohort of schools to lead design thinking education in India. Curriculum, teacher training, IIT Hyderabad DIC certification, and public recognition.
Talk to us →The HCD Institute
Design Innovation Centre (DIC)
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad Kandi, Sangareddy,
Telangana, India – 502284
dic@hcd.institute
dic@iit.ac.in
HCD Worldwide
Certification
DIC - Global Immersion
IITH 7 - Day Full Immersion
IITH 2 - Day Full Immersion
HCDx in Product Building
HCDx in Strategy & Leadership
HCDx in Public Policy
HCDx in Global Supplychain
HCDx in Schools & Colleges
hcd © 2026 All rights reserved
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
HCD Lab Curriculum