| This study explores the need for entrepreneurship education at the middle school level and examines the efficacy of the curriculum enhancement entitled Entrepreneurs in Action! at the seventh-grade level. First developed under the direction of R. Wilburn Clouse at Vanderbilt University as part of the Center for Entrepreneurship Education, this program integrates existing curriculum and encourages the development of entrepreneurial thinking among students by exposing them to a problem-based learning scenario in which they must employ cross-discipline and interdisciplinary skills to reach a solution. Students take part in the whole-part-whole instructional model, in which the end product is a business plan that students present to their teachers, peers, and a panel of community members serving as judges.;The sample for this study included 69 seventh graders and was drawn from a pool of students in two schools located in the southeastern United States. Student gains in entrepreneurial thinking were measured by an assessment rubric applied to a pretest and posttest. Scores from a control group provided a baseline for changes in the experimental groups. Results revealed significant gains in entrepreneurial thinking.;Student requests for complex analytical information from mentors, termed online experts, increased over time during the course of the program, and survey responses revealed that students and teachers felt that students had made gains in creativity and the complexity of the problem-solving process during the project.;Online experts added to the effectiveness of the program by giving accurate, specific, and clear information in a timely manner. Furthermore, they cleared up issues and supported the problem-solving process by encouraging students to think on their own, as opposed to giving students the "right answer.";Finally, Entrepreneurs in Action! was deemed effective in achieving its goal of integrating so-called traditional subject matter like math, social studies, language arts, drama, and art with emerging core competencies like technology usage and presentation skills. Overall, the program seemed effective at situating learning in the framework of the students and showing that interdisciplinary teaching built around a focus on entrepreneurship can be a positive and powerful instructional method. |
