Teaching entrepreneurship is an exciting but complex challenge. It requires a wide range of business skills plus the expertise to guide students to problems and solutions that could be the inspiration for a startup. In addition, educators need to support students as they grow their abilities in more abstract but still essential elements of entrepreneurship, such as working together effectively, thinking critically about their own ventures, and more.
This series is intended to help entrepreneurship educators bring these elements into the classroom in an intentional and inclusive way. We all want to see entrepreneurship evolve to be more diverse, with founders from many backgrounds who see compelling problems and new ways to solve them. Inclusive entrepreneurship education grows this pipeline, and these underlying competencies set students up for success.
Through the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) workshop series, funded by the National Science Foundation, social scientists collaborated with entrepreneurship educators to bridge the gap between their areas of expertise. The resulting white papers provide research-based insights into essential elements of inclusive entrepreneurship education—as well as tools, evaluations, and classroom exercises that teachers can use to guide their students through the complex process of building a startup.
The ongoing series currently includes teamwork, motivation, and critical thinking, and over time will examine empathy and problem-solving.
Successful Startup Teamwork Relies on Three Communication Strategies
What makes a team function well together? Sample insights from the white paper and learn how these interrelated communication strategies create an environment that sustains collaboration and innovation.
Increasing Student Engagement in Entrepreneurship: Four Key Motivational Tactics
Many students have trouble seeing themselves as entrepreneurs or staying motivated during the often challenging startup process. Here are four tactics, pulled from the white paper, that you can bring straight into the classroom to help motivate students.
Bringing Critical Thinking Into the Entrepreneurship Classroom: Six Techniques
Successful entrepreneurs not only have to engage in entrepreneurship processes; they also need an entrepreneurial mindset that looks for problems and solutions. Throughout the entrepreneurial journey, critical thinking skills are necessary to engage these complex tasks in a meaningful, useful fashion.
Four Ways To Foster Creative Thinking in Student Entrepreneurs While Developing Their Problem-Solving Skills
Being an entrepreneur includes anticipating and innovating for the future. By teaching problem-solving skills, educators equip students to develop their creative thinking in a real-world context and ultimately be more successful in their entrepreneurship endeavors.
Empathy in Entrepreneurship Education: Five Ways To Bring Empathy Into the Classroom
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, is an essential skill in entrepreneurship. It encompasses three primary processes: experience-sharing, compassion, and perspective-taking. These processes enable individuals to connect with others on a deeper level, fostering better relationships and more effective problem-solving. In the realm of entrepreneurship, empathy can significantly enhance customer understanding, team dynamics, and innovative thinking.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under IUSE Grant No. 2220329. Thank you to Penn State for their support of this series.
