Experiential entrepreneurship

I have been troubled by the teaching of GCSE Business Studies, largely because the syllabus emphasises the entrepreneurial element while my students have no real experience. Scanning papers for another reason I came across an article by Jarna Heinonen and Sari-Anne Poikkijoki (2006) on the Emerald website. This was a review of approaches to teaching entrepreneurship using experiential and entrepreneurial activities. The paper also includes an annex containing a number of classroom activities that demonstrate this.

I liked the idea of using somewhat left-of-field approaches that allow students to explore their attitudes individually and as part of a team. Currently, I am being guided by a set text book, which uses real world (or at least realistic) examples, the down-side being that my students have no basis to judge this realism against which ultimately bores them.

This article has encouraged me to try 'unrealistic' examples which may have a better experiential content.

Reference

Heinonen, S., and Poikkijoki, S-A. (2006). "An entrepreneurial-directed approach to entrepreneurship education: mission impossible?". Journal of Management Development. 25(1). 80-94.