KIDZ BIZ

1. KIDZ BIZ Entrepreneurship expedition Grant Black and Sharon Laux Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education University of Missouri-St. Louis

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

3. Importance of Entrepreneurship • Contributes to economic growth • Provides more and better goods and services • Generates wealth • Creates jobs • Growing interest due to economic uncertainties

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Sample Agenda 9 AM – 9:05 AM Introduction LobbyJCP 9:05 AM – 10 AM Expedition 1 Group 1 202 JCP Entrepreneurship Adventure Group 2 402 JCP Production Adventure Group 3 Lobby JCP Campus Tour 10 AM – 11 AM Expedition 2 Group 1 402 JCP Production Adventure Group 2 Lobby JCP Campus Tour Group 3 202 JCP Entrepreneurship Adventure 11 AM – 12 PM Expedition 3 Group 1 Lobby JCP Campus Tour Group 2 202 JCP Entrepreneurship Adventure Group 3 402 JCP Production Adventure 12 PM – 1 PM Lunch Millennium Student Center

11. “Entrepreneurship Adventure” • Introduction to entrepreneurship • Entrepreneurship • Characteristics of an entrepreneur • Benefits of entrepreneurship • Steps to become an entrepreneurship • Business plans • Invention vs. innovation

12. Entrepreneurship Economics Videos The Entrepreneur The Supply Chain The Business Plan

13. “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

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

15. “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)

16. Resources for Production Activity • 3-5 workers (students) • 2 newspapers • 1 ruler • 1 stapler • 1 scissors • 1 box of markers

17. Campus Tour • Expose students to a local college • Encourage higher education and human capital investment

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. Questions or Comments? Contact: pcs.umsl.edu/econed econed@umsl.edu 314-516-5248