Design Thinking as a Toolbox for Requirements Engineering Education: Lessons from the Classroom
Resumo
Context: Design Thinking (DT) has gained popularity in software engineering education as a human-centered and collaborative approach to solving complex problems. In Requirements Engineering (RE), DT can complement traditional practices by offering concrete tools that support creativity, empathy, and stakeholder engagement. Goal: This paper presents a classroom experience in which DT was introduced not as a linear process, but as a toolbox of techniques that students could freely explore and apply to real-world projects involving external clients. Method: Students worked in teams on practical RE assignments, each involving a different system and real users. They applied DT techniques of their choice, supported by a curated selection guide called “Universo de Seleção,” which helped them identify and adapt methods suitable for their specific contexts. We conducted a qualitative analysis of students’ reflections gathered through reports and surveys. Results: The toolbox approach led to improved understanding of requirements elicitation, better engagement with users, and development of key skills such as teamwork and communication. Students also demonstrated autonomy and critical thinking in selecting techniques appropriate to their project contexts. Conclusion: This experience highlights the potential of using DT as a toolbox to enrich RE education, offering flexibility and encouraging deeper engagement with both technical and human aspects of requirements elicitation.
Palavras-chave:
Requirements Elicitation, Design Thinking Toolbox, Teaching Process, Experience Report
Referências
Dariane Abich, Rafael Parizi, and Sabrina Marczak. 2024. Fostering Collaboration through Design Thinking: A Study among Software Engineering Students. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Engenharia de Software (SBES). SBC, 532–542.
Larissa Barbosa, Sávio Freire, Rita SP Maciel, Manoel Mendonça, Marcos Kalinowski, Zadia Codabux, and Rodrigo Spínola. 2025. Attributes of a great requirements engineer. Journal of Systems and Software 219 (2025), 112200.
Walter Brenner, Falk Uebernickel, and Thomas Abrell. 2016. Design thinking as mindset, process, and toolbox. In Design thinking for innovation. Springer, 3–21.
Edna Dias Canedo, Ana Carolina Dos Santos Pergentino, Angelica Toffano Seidel Calazans, Frederico Viana Almeida, Pedro Henrique Teixeira Costa, and Fernanda Lima. 2020. Design Thinking Use in Agile Software Projects: Software Developers’ Perception.. In ICEIS (2). 217–224.
Marian Daun, Alicia M Grubb, Viktoria Stenkova, and Bastian Tenbergen. 2023. The Field of Requirements Engineering Education. In 2023 IEEE 35th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T). IEEE, 119–119.
Marian Daun, AliciaMGrubb, Viktoria Stenkova, and Bastian Tenbergen. 2023. A systematic literature reviewof requirements engineering education. Requirements Engineering 28, 2 (2023), 145–175.
Franziska Dobrigkeit and Danielly De Paula. 2019. Design thinking in practice: understanding manifestations of design thinking in software engineering. In Proceedings of the 2019 27th ACM joint meeting on European software engineering conference and symposium on the foundations of software engineering. 1059–1069.
Hugo Ferreira Martins, Antônio Carvalho de Oliveira Junior, Edna Dias Canedo, Ricardo Ajax Dias Kosloski, Roberto Ávila Paldês, and Edgard Costa Oliveira. 2019. Design thinking: Challenges for software requirements elicitation. Information 10, 12 (2019), 371.
Marc Gruber, Nick De Leon, Gerard George, and Paul Thompson. 2015. Managing by design. , 7 pages.
Jennifer Hehn and Daniel Mendez. 2022. Combining design thinking and software requirements engineering to create human-centered software-intensive systems. In Design Thinking for Software Engineering: Creating Human-oriented Softwareintensive Products and Services. Springer, 11–60.
Jennifer Hehn, Daniel Mendez, Falk Uebernickel, Walter Brenner, and Manfred Broy. 2019. On integrating design thinking for human-centered requirements engineering. IEEE Software 37, 2 (2019), 25–31. DT as a Toolbox for RE Education: Lessons from the Classroom SBES’25, September 22-26, 2025, Recife, PE
Dulaji Hidellaarachchi, John Grundy, Rashina Hoda, and Ingo Mueller. 2023. The influence of human aspects on requirements engineering-related activities: Software practitioners’ perspective. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 32, 5 (2023), 1–37.
Joyce Hwee Ling Koh, Ching Sing Chai, BenjaminWong, Huang-Yao Hong, Joyce Hwee Ling Koh, Ching Sing Chai, Benjamin Wong, and Huang-Yao Hong. 2015. Design thinking and education. Springer.
Yusup Maulana, Wahyu Sopandi, and Asep Kadarohman. 2023. Design Thinking In Education Research Over The Last Two Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis: The Opportunities In Designing Research and Development Student Worksheets Based On The RADEC Lecture Model For Prospective Teachers. In Proceedings of the 2023 5th World Symposium on Software Engineering. 246–253.
Maria Meireles, Juliana Magalhães, Nasthya Barauna, Sabrina Rocha, Jose Maldonado, and Tayana Conte. 2024. Guiding the Way: Facilitating Requirements Elicitation with Selection Universe Approach. In Anais do XXXVIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Engenharia de Software (Curitiba/PR). SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 158–168. DOI: 10.5753/sbes.2024.3338
Sasha Nikolic, Thomas Suesse, Kosta Jovanovic, and Zarko Stanisavljevic. 2020. Laboratory learning objectives measurement: Relationships between student evaluation scores and perceived learning. IEEE Transactions on Education 64, 2 (2020), 163–171.
Sofia Ouhbi, Ali Idri, José Luis Fernández-Alemán, and Ambrosio Toval. 2015. Requirements engineering education: a systematic mapping study. Requirements Engineering 20 (2015), 119–138.
Rafael Parizi, Marina Moreira, Igor Couto, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2021. A Tool Proposal for Recommending Design Thinking Techniques in Software Development. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development 9 (2021), 19–1.
Rafael Parizi, Matheus Prestes, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2022. How has design thinking being used and integrated into software development activities? A systematic mapping. Journal of Systems and Software (2022), 111217.
Lauriane Pereira, Rafael Parizi, Matheus Prestes, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2021. Towards an understanding of benefits and challenges in the use of design thinking in requirements engineering. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. 1338–1345.
Osama Sohaib, Hiralkumari Solanki, Navkiran Dhaliwa, Walayat Hussain, and Muhammad Asif. 2019. Integrating design thinking into extreme programming. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing 10, 6 (2019), 2485–2492.
Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin. 1998. Basics of qualitative research techniques. (1998).
Saurabh Tiwari and Santosh S Rathore. 2022. Understanding general concepts of requirements engineering through design thinking: An experimental study with students. Computer Applications in Engineering Education 30, 6 (2022), 1683–1700.
Jui-Che Tu, Li-Xia Liu, and Kuan-YiWu. 2018. Study on the learning effectiveness of Stanford design thinking in integrated design education. Sustainability 10, 8 (2018), 2649.
Natasha M Costa Valentim, Williamson Silva, and Tayana Conte. 2017. The students’ perspectives on applying design thinking for the design of mobile applications. In 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training Track (ICSE-SEET). IEEE, 77–86.
Jéssyka Vilela and Carla Silva. 2023. An Experience Report on the use of Problembased learning and Design Thinking in a Requirements Engineering Postgraduate Course. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering. 432–441.
Ke Xu and Yi Cai. 2022. Exploration of Engineering Practice Teaching Guided by Design Thinking. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology. 266–271.
Dvora Yanow and Haridimos Tsoukas. 2009. What is reflection-in-action? A phenomenological account. Journal of management studies 46, 8 (2009), 1339–1364.
Qing Yu, Kun Yu, and Rongri Lin. 2024. A meta-analysis of the effects of design thinking on student learning. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11, 1 (2024), 1–12.
Larissa Barbosa, Sávio Freire, Rita SP Maciel, Manoel Mendonça, Marcos Kalinowski, Zadia Codabux, and Rodrigo Spínola. 2025. Attributes of a great requirements engineer. Journal of Systems and Software 219 (2025), 112200.
Walter Brenner, Falk Uebernickel, and Thomas Abrell. 2016. Design thinking as mindset, process, and toolbox. In Design thinking for innovation. Springer, 3–21.
Edna Dias Canedo, Ana Carolina Dos Santos Pergentino, Angelica Toffano Seidel Calazans, Frederico Viana Almeida, Pedro Henrique Teixeira Costa, and Fernanda Lima. 2020. Design Thinking Use in Agile Software Projects: Software Developers’ Perception.. In ICEIS (2). 217–224.
Marian Daun, Alicia M Grubb, Viktoria Stenkova, and Bastian Tenbergen. 2023. The Field of Requirements Engineering Education. In 2023 IEEE 35th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T). IEEE, 119–119.
Marian Daun, AliciaMGrubb, Viktoria Stenkova, and Bastian Tenbergen. 2023. A systematic literature reviewof requirements engineering education. Requirements Engineering 28, 2 (2023), 145–175.
Franziska Dobrigkeit and Danielly De Paula. 2019. Design thinking in practice: understanding manifestations of design thinking in software engineering. In Proceedings of the 2019 27th ACM joint meeting on European software engineering conference and symposium on the foundations of software engineering. 1059–1069.
Hugo Ferreira Martins, Antônio Carvalho de Oliveira Junior, Edna Dias Canedo, Ricardo Ajax Dias Kosloski, Roberto Ávila Paldês, and Edgard Costa Oliveira. 2019. Design thinking: Challenges for software requirements elicitation. Information 10, 12 (2019), 371.
Marc Gruber, Nick De Leon, Gerard George, and Paul Thompson. 2015. Managing by design. , 7 pages.
Jennifer Hehn and Daniel Mendez. 2022. Combining design thinking and software requirements engineering to create human-centered software-intensive systems. In Design Thinking for Software Engineering: Creating Human-oriented Softwareintensive Products and Services. Springer, 11–60.
Jennifer Hehn, Daniel Mendez, Falk Uebernickel, Walter Brenner, and Manfred Broy. 2019. On integrating design thinking for human-centered requirements engineering. IEEE Software 37, 2 (2019), 25–31. DT as a Toolbox for RE Education: Lessons from the Classroom SBES’25, September 22-26, 2025, Recife, PE
Dulaji Hidellaarachchi, John Grundy, Rashina Hoda, and Ingo Mueller. 2023. The influence of human aspects on requirements engineering-related activities: Software practitioners’ perspective. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 32, 5 (2023), 1–37.
Joyce Hwee Ling Koh, Ching Sing Chai, BenjaminWong, Huang-Yao Hong, Joyce Hwee Ling Koh, Ching Sing Chai, Benjamin Wong, and Huang-Yao Hong. 2015. Design thinking and education. Springer.
Yusup Maulana, Wahyu Sopandi, and Asep Kadarohman. 2023. Design Thinking In Education Research Over The Last Two Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis: The Opportunities In Designing Research and Development Student Worksheets Based On The RADEC Lecture Model For Prospective Teachers. In Proceedings of the 2023 5th World Symposium on Software Engineering. 246–253.
Maria Meireles, Juliana Magalhães, Nasthya Barauna, Sabrina Rocha, Jose Maldonado, and Tayana Conte. 2024. Guiding the Way: Facilitating Requirements Elicitation with Selection Universe Approach. In Anais do XXXVIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Engenharia de Software (Curitiba/PR). SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 158–168. DOI: 10.5753/sbes.2024.3338
Sasha Nikolic, Thomas Suesse, Kosta Jovanovic, and Zarko Stanisavljevic. 2020. Laboratory learning objectives measurement: Relationships between student evaluation scores and perceived learning. IEEE Transactions on Education 64, 2 (2020), 163–171.
Sofia Ouhbi, Ali Idri, José Luis Fernández-Alemán, and Ambrosio Toval. 2015. Requirements engineering education: a systematic mapping study. Requirements Engineering 20 (2015), 119–138.
Rafael Parizi, Marina Moreira, Igor Couto, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2021. A Tool Proposal for Recommending Design Thinking Techniques in Software Development. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development 9 (2021), 19–1.
Rafael Parizi, Matheus Prestes, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2022. How has design thinking being used and integrated into software development activities? A systematic mapping. Journal of Systems and Software (2022), 111217.
Lauriane Pereira, Rafael Parizi, Matheus Prestes, Sabrina Marczak, and Tayana Conte. 2021. Towards an understanding of benefits and challenges in the use of design thinking in requirements engineering. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. 1338–1345.
Osama Sohaib, Hiralkumari Solanki, Navkiran Dhaliwa, Walayat Hussain, and Muhammad Asif. 2019. Integrating design thinking into extreme programming. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing 10, 6 (2019), 2485–2492.
Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin. 1998. Basics of qualitative research techniques. (1998).
Saurabh Tiwari and Santosh S Rathore. 2022. Understanding general concepts of requirements engineering through design thinking: An experimental study with students. Computer Applications in Engineering Education 30, 6 (2022), 1683–1700.
Jui-Che Tu, Li-Xia Liu, and Kuan-YiWu. 2018. Study on the learning effectiveness of Stanford design thinking in integrated design education. Sustainability 10, 8 (2018), 2649.
Natasha M Costa Valentim, Williamson Silva, and Tayana Conte. 2017. The students’ perspectives on applying design thinking for the design of mobile applications. In 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training Track (ICSE-SEET). IEEE, 77–86.
Jéssyka Vilela and Carla Silva. 2023. An Experience Report on the use of Problembased learning and Design Thinking in a Requirements Engineering Postgraduate Course. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering. 432–441.
Ke Xu and Yi Cai. 2022. Exploration of Engineering Practice Teaching Guided by Design Thinking. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology. 266–271.
Dvora Yanow and Haridimos Tsoukas. 2009. What is reflection-in-action? A phenomenological account. Journal of management studies 46, 8 (2009), 1339–1364.
Qing Yu, Kun Yu, and Rongri Lin. 2024. A meta-analysis of the effects of design thinking on student learning. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11, 1 (2024), 1–12.
Publicado
22/09/2025
Como Citar
MEIRELES, Maria Alcimar Costa; RODRIGUES, Eriky; STEINMACHER, Igor; MALDONADO, Jose Carlos; CONTE, Tayana.
Design Thinking as a Toolbox for Requirements Engineering Education: Lessons from the Classroom. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE ENGENHARIA DE SOFTWARE (SBES), 39. , 2025, Recife/PE.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 533-543.
ISSN 2833-0633.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbes.2025.11084.
