Minneapolis, MN
August 23, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 29, 2022
3
10.18260/1-2--40654
https://peer.asee.org/40654
270
Karen Plaster is a Professor of Practice in the LeBron James Family Foundation School of Education at the University of Akron. She has a B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Adolescent and Young Adult Education: Mathematics Licensure from The University of Akron, and is currently a Ph.D. student at Kent State University. Her research interests include STEM education, curriculum integration of engineering and entrepreneurship, afterschool engagement with coding and robotics, and early childhood preservice teacher learning.
Think Tank to Shark Tank: Engineer to Entrepreneur is a problem-based learning curriculum inspired by a week-long summer camp was created to engage middle school students in engineering and entrepreneurship. In the curriculum, participants create an innovative project to solve a pain point and use the engineering design process to develop a solution. Throughout the week, students implement what they learn about intellectual property, engineering constraints, customer identification, business model development, and marketing strategies into a final pitch. The pitch is delivered to a group of pseudo-investors who determine which idea(s) merit investment.
The curriculum was developed for sixth through ninth-grade students in formal or informal learning environments and has been used with high school students. It is composed of ten modules which cover: Pain Points, Market, Engineering, Prototype, Entrepreneurship, Selling and Target Market, Advertising, Preparing to Pitch, and the Pitch. Created videos support student learning along with specific activities to engage students in the content. Teacher and student guides are provided and can be used electronically or printed. Each session is approximately an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long.
Plaster, K., & Pachnowski, L., & Maguth, B. (2022, August), The integration of entrepreneurship in a school-age engineering curriculum (Resource Exchange) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40654
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