Select from one of the following categories to go to the cases:

University Cases

High School Cases

Middle School Cases

Elementary Cases

///Entrepreneurs In Action! (EIA) is the heart of our work and the philosophy is spelled out in the following statement.

Introduction

We live in a changing world. The rate of change has greatly accelerated since 9-11. Chaos and uncertainty are now a part of our everyday life. Much of our formal learning teaches us to think logically and in a linear fashion. We are taught to expect to find “the right answer.”

While we recognize the value of formal education, we also appreciate the need to develop the mindset to deal with uncertainty and the need for self-sufficiency in terms of job creation. No longer can the current generation expect to work for a major corporation and receive the “gold watch” at the end of a 25-year career. Yet, much of our formal schooling still supports this type of linear thinking.

It is out of our concern for future generations that we have embarked on the Entrepreneurs in Action! project. We want to develop cross-disciplinary learning environments that teach students to see new opportunities out of current “live” situations. We want students to be given the chance to see new business opportunities and to carry them to fruition. Thus, our approach has been to connect the learning to the framework of the learner, to make the cases “real,” to provide resources for solution development and to leave the cases as open-ended learning environments. In this model, the student must create a possible solution to each scenario and defend that solution as a business venture.

Description

Entrepreneurs in Action! is a curriculum designed to teach entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation by using online cases. The curriculum is a vehicle for creating learning environments that foster entrepreneurial activities and develop a mindset for thinking outside of structured settings. The curriculum takes the position that every person has the potential to think creatively and entrepreneurially.

Project Goals

The Entrepreneurs in Action! program is designed to accomplish the following:

Encourage the development of a cross-disciplinary learning environment

Connect learning with the framework of the learner

Provide for just-in-time learning

Utilize whole-part-whole teaching strategies

Connect learning with local communities

Use live cases for authentic earning

Require the use of a variety of resources

Provide online experts from the local community for content analysis

These ideas led us, first of all, to develop a series of open-ended problem-based cases for elementary, middle and high school. Cases developed in these areas have been field-tested in Schenectady, New York, Hendersonville, Tennessee, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Los Lunas, New Mexico and Mandeville, Louisiana.

Our success in the public school arena led us to develop a cross-disciplinary approach at the university level. We have developed the fifteen cases, which are presented in this website.

These cases are written to connect with the framework of the learner and are customized for individual learning environments. Since most formal education stresses conformity and not creativity, we take this opportunity to provide the student with a creative learning environment that connects with his or her own learning style and knowledge base. We believe that entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and that learning about an idea is not the same as living out that idea. The curriculum is designed to encourage students to dream and learn about new ideas and new business ventures so that they learn to create jobs instead of learning to take jobs. All cases are interdisciplinary in nature and are constructed in such a way as to encourage students to think creatively and entrepreneurially about major world issues. 

The intent in all cases is for students to see new opportunities and to develop new business services or products as a result of investigating the cases. We welcome any comments or suggestions from other colleges or universities concerning our approach and we invite all to become a member of our Entrepreneurs in Action! network.

University Projects 

Cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship curriculum development projects with faculty members from Francis Marion University, Western Kentucky University, Murray State University, Anderson University, Tennessee Technological University, Rochester Institute of Technology and host Vanderbilt University

K-12 Projects

Entrepreneurs in Action! K-12 projects have been conducted at the following locations:

Sumner County Public Schools, Hendersonville, Tennessee

Elmer Avenue Elementary School, Schenectady, New York

Fontainebleau High School, Mandeville, Louisiana

Mt. Juliet Middle School, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee

Manzano Vista Middle School, Los Lunas, New Mexico

Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Future Projects

The research and cases presented in the Entrepreneurs in Action! project are considered as “works in progress”. We invite all those who want to participate in our Entrepreneurs in Action! network to contact us.