Play To Learn & Learn To Play
~ An Innovative Pedagogy for Teaching Entrepreneurship ~
Objectives
To demonstrate how experiential activities involving artistic expression (art, painting, drama, music, etc.) enhance the understanding of entrepreneurship in an effective, efficient, and enjoyable way.
Introduction
Several of the games typically played in a classroom concentrate on finding the right answers e.g. Jeopardy, Who wants to be a millionaire, Cluedo, Bingo, etc. Others create a competitive scenario in which students or groups of students are in a combative situation e.g. simulations. All of these involve a winner and losers. An alternative approach to play in the classroom is one in which students collaborate with instead of compete against each other. I’ve developed a set of activities in which students “create something out of nothing”. He/she has to find out the rules, make the connections and interpretations while creating something materials that are unfamiliar to them. In each instance, the student plays an active and creative role. Each activity engage students in different ways, but all capture their imagination and encourage interaction.
Activities
Activities that involve artistic expression (e.g. art, music, drama) have proven to be particularly effective in terms of encouraging a greater degree of both participation and comprehension. Some of these activities include:
Outcomes
Apart from creating opportunities for students to comprehend fundamental principles, these exercises convey the underlying emotion-filled concepts that cannot be communicated effectively in narrative format. These assignments seem childlike at first and herein lay the secret to their success. Students immediately associate these activities with the things they used to do in kindergarten i.e. remind them of playing and having fun and not caring about the outcomes. When the seemingly unrelated digressions reveal their relevance to the learner there is an AHA! moment that needs no further explanation from the instructor.
Contact for additional information:
Minet Schindehutte, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises
Whitman School of Management Suite 532
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244-2130
t: 315 443 3586
email: mschinde@syr.edu
Additional Resources