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LEARNING IN ENTERPRISES - Copiar

Hosted by OSOS , contributed by DeustoLearningLab on 7 May 2019

Pupils learn from building their own enterprise. Once they have written an application (without spelling mistakes) to  the head of school, they can start participating. Examples of entrepeneurship within a school:

  • School  photographer, makes portrait pictures of students and sells them to their parents;
  • School TV Journal,  makes a monthly news bulletin on school events etc.;
  • Kitchen garden, grows and sells vegetables and  herbs;
  • Making and repairing, 3 D printing and fixing school materials and on request to outside customers;
  • Pupil board, does community service, e.g. playing board games in the elderly home and put forward ideas for a better school to the principal;
  • Bakery, bakes and sells cakes etc.;
  • Musical,  prepares a musical performance;
  • Recycling, pimps up rest and waste materials and sells the outcome; 
  • Plastic Soup, cleans up neighborhood. 

This way of working makes the necessity of acquiring basic skills like math and correct spelling clear to the children. It also helps developing or refining certain 21st century skills.

Learning objectives

  • Interdisciplinary: Connects knowledge from school subjects to real life and real life problems.
  • Participation and Citizen Science: Emancipatory and participatory approach. Students evaluate their place in society and think how they might contribute by starting their own enterprise.
  • Promoting inclusion: Presence, participation and learning. 
  • Empowerment and Engagement: Students will actively think of what they can mean for their society and coming up with their own ideas that they can execute themselves. This empowers students as they see they can find solutions for problems themselves.

# Session

Duration

Description

Resources needed

Location

1

30m

The teacher explains that we are going to start enterprises, cooperation is voluntarily.

 

  • Classroom

School

2

45m

The children get to know which enterprises they could start themselves, and learn the requirements for applying:

  • writing, no spelling mistakes, 
  • presenting personal information and 
  • presenting their motivation
  • Notebook or tablet

School

3

15m

Students learn:

  • in which enterprise they are appointed, 
  • when (you can set a time for it, students who are not in an enterprise work on research projects), and where they'll meet;
  • which adult is leading the enterprise and 
  • when the kick-off is planned.
  • Classroom

School

4-30

Weekly, 90 minutes

The kickoff starts with an assignment:

  • to cooperate on a business plan, 
  • a preliminary distribution of tasks and 
  • some practical issues.
  • Volunteer parents, model business plan

School and outside school

31

Market day, 180 minutes

Enterprises show their work  and eventually sell products from their enterprise.

Stalls, change cash, food and drinks

Schoolyard or alternative location

 

 

RRI principles

One of the key aspects of OSOS is the inclusion of RRI — Responsible Research and Innovation — principles (more information at RRI-Tools.eu). This is how this Accelerator fits into the RRI model:

Governance

Students will have to evaluate diferent stakeholders when making their enterprise and take into consideration local rules and legislation. Students take responsibility to make agreements with stakeholders for practical execution of their enterprise.

I.e.: in an example enterprise where the students start a kitchen garden where they grown and sell herbs they will have to consult the owner of the land (the school, municipality, parents) and agree on the terms and coditions for using the land for a kitchen garden.

Public Engagement

Students will recognize their place in society and will come with ideas to start an enterprise in their own neighbourhood.

I.e.: Students will learn to see opportunities in their own environment and will learn how to use those opportunities to create ideas.

Gender equality

The purpose of the new usage for the place will be established with a gender-neutral approach, this will benefit both men and women.

I.e.: students will discuss different options and choose the most appropiate one in terms of gender equality. 

Science Education

This activity could use sciencific concepts and procedures (i.e. researching comparable enterprises, etc) and it should be developed following the scientific method (define a research qustion, collect data, analysis, validate or refute the hypothesis, etc.).

I.e.: students will use science in a trans-disciplinary way, looking for answers through a scientific approach to know where, when, what and how they will develop the project in the surroundings of the school.

Ethics

Students will look critically in their own environment and think how they can contribute with their small enterprise.

I.e.: they see a need for something and will work to accomplish flfilling that need.

Open Access

Students could share resources and materials with both stakeholders involved in the project and also in the Internet, open and free, for the users interested in the project.

I.e.: materials developed and resources collected within this project will be available for free on the Internet, since they can help people in developing their own projects to improve other abandoned places

 

 

 

AVAILABLE  PARTNERSHIP  OPPORTUNITIES 

 

  • Local entrepreneurs; for instance: 
    • DIY store, 
    • Bicycle shop, 
    • Environmental Lobby Group  (Greenpeace)  
  • Elderly Home  
  • Parents  
    • in their role as employee of an organization
  • Presenting the plan to the students may include a few exemplary enterprises. 

Other reccommendations
 

It is a good idea to commonly establish a good cause for the revenues of the enterprises.

This could be something for school, e.g. a new instrument on the playground, a good cause or a combination of those two. For instance, we are working with a partner school on one of the Caribbean islands who was struck by hurricane Irma and suffered badly. Half of the income from the enterprizes is transferred to this school; the other half we will spend on playing gear for our own new housing.

ORGANIZATION IN CHARGE:

Basisschool De Verwondering

Basisschool De Verwondering
Bernhardlaan 23. 1141 CM Monnickendam
0299 – 769 126
info@basisschooldeverwondering.nl  
http://basisschooldeverwondering.nl/

CONTACT PEOPLE:
Tijl Rood
tijl@basisschooldeverwondering.nl

 
Learning Objectives
This way of working makes the necessity of acquiring basic skills like math and correct spelling clear  to the children. It also helps developing or refining certain 21st century skills.