KIDZ BIZ

Entrepreneurship expedition

Grant Black and Sharon LauxCenter for Entrepreneurship and Economic EducationUniversity of Missouri-St. Louis

Outline

• Importance of entrepreneurship• Role of entrepreneurship education• Overview of Kidz Biz• Strategies for using Kidz Biz• Discussion

Importance of Entrepreneurship

• Contributes to economic growth• Provides more and better goods and services• Generates wealth• Creates jobs• Growing interest due to economic

uncertainties

Role of Entrepreneurship Education

• Equips students to understand role and process of entrepreneurship

• Empowers students with entrepreneurial skills• Develops critical life skills related to economic

reasoning, critical thinking, communication, financial management, and ethics

• Promotes financial inclusion and economic opportunity

Limited Entrepreneurship Education

• Teachers lack knowledge and training about entrepreneurship

• Opportunities for student learning and engagement unavailable

• Access to educational resources limited• Efforts often limited in scale and scope

Kidz Biz• An entrepreneurship field-trip program for

students• Purpose– Increase entrepreneurship education– Experiential and collaborative learning– Content knowledge about entrepreneurship and

economics– Exposure to entrepreneurship as a career path– Connection to classroom businesses

Design• Half-day program• Targets middle-school students

– Could also target elementary-school students• Location: university campus

– Could be anywhere• Three one-hour sessions

– Entrepreneurship Adventure– Production Adventure– Campus tour

• Optional lunch on campus• Flexible to tailor content and activities to the audience

Concepts

• Entrepreneurship• Characteristics of an

entrepreneur• Benefits of

entrepreneurship• Steps to become an

entrepreneurship• Business plans

• Goods and services• Producers and

consumers• Resources• Scarcity• Production decisions• Specialization• Opportunity costs

Structure

• Students divided into three large groups (~25 students per group)

• Each group attends one of three simultaneous sessions and then rotates through all the sessions

• Students work in small teams (4-5 students) for the activities

Sample Agenda9 AM – 9:05 AM Introduction

Lobby JCP

9:05 AM – 10 AM Expedition 1

Group 1 202 JCP Entrepreneurship AdventureGroup 2 402 JCP Production AdventureGroup 3 Lobby JCP Campus Tour

10 AM – 11 AM Expedition 2

Group 1 402 JCP Production AdventureGroup 2 Lobby JCP Campus TourGroup 3 202 JCP Entrepreneurship Adventure

11 AM – 12 PM Expedition 3

Group 1 Lobby JCP Campus TourGroup 2 202 JCP Entrepreneurship AdventureGroup 3 402 JCP Production Adventure

12 PM – 1 PM Lunch

Millennium Student Center

“Entrepreneurship Adventure”

• Introduction to entrepreneurship– Entrepreneurship– Characteristics of an entrepreneur– Benefits of entrepreneurship– Steps to become an entrepreneurship– Business plans– Invention vs. innovation

Entrepreneurship Economics Videos

The Entrepreneur

The Supply Chain

The Business Plan

“Entrepreneurship Adventure”

• Activity– Students brainstorm an idea for a business– Students create a “mini business plan”

• Market opportunity, product/service, target audience and location, production method, marketing strategy

– Students make a one-minute “elevator pitch” presentation of their idea based on their mini business plan

• Example: activity based on using a local school’s existing garden and bee hives

“Production Adventure”• Production issues in entrepreneurship– Resources– Scarcity– Goods and services– Prototype– Production methods– Consumers and producers– Specialization and efficiency– Opportunity costs of production

“Production Adventure”• Activity– Students develop an idea for a product and create a

prototype (10 minutes)– Students make a short presentation on their product idea,

demonstrating their prototype and discussing how they plan to use their available resources in production (1-2 minutes)

– Students produce as much of their product as possible, focusing on maintaining efficiency and quality throughout production (10 minutes)

– Wrap-up discussion, comparing production results and addressing scarcity, specialization, and opportunity costs (10 minutes)

Resources for Production Activity

• 3-5 workers (students)• 2 newspapers• 1 ruler• 1 stapler• 1 scissors• 1 box of markers

Campus Tour

• Expose students to a local college• Encourage higher education and human

capital investment

Strategies for Using Kidz Biz• Adjust content knowledge to targeted grade levels

and schools• Tailor activities to targeted grade levels and schools– Production and entrepreneurship activities work well

with all grades• Consider pre- and post-event classroom activities• Connect to other curriculum resources• Enhance existing school activities and resources• In-school vs. off-site location

Cost• Little cost as is– Miscellaneous supplies (newspapers, scissors,

markers, etc.)– Photocopies for entrepreneurship activity– Students bring sack lunch

• Enhancements– Bus transportation cost– Food and beverages– T-shirts– Handouts

Common Core Connection

• Problem-solving through collaborative activities

• Use of higher-order thinking skills in activities and discussions

• Real-world applications of concepts• Oral presentation of ideas• Group discussion of concepts and

experiences

Kidz Biz Details

• Sign up to receive information and sample materials about Kidz Biz

Questions or Comments?

Contact:pcs.umsl.edu/econed

econed@umsl.edu314-516-5248