LIFE INOVATION

Source: Grasshopper

The recent discussion posted to the International Society For Technology In Education’s LinkedIn group via the Fishtree Blog asks the question, “Should entrepreneurship be taught at school?” Our answer is a resounding YES! It also reminds us of an excellent motion graphic called Entrepreneurs Can Change the World by the Grasshopper group. We’ve used it to kick off our interdisciplinary, fifth-grade entrepreneur project for the past three years with much success.

Ironically, the video starts off with “Remember when you were a kid…and you thought you could do anything.” If we want to tap the creative potential of our kids, we should provide more opportunities for them in school to develop an entrepreneurial spirit. We see no reason why it should wait. They are kids, and we want them to think they can do anything.

Source: Grasshopper

We’ve talked to our students about the many successful startups of products they know that began with kids in their teens, and some even earlier. Others such as the founders of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook were only in their early 20s when they developed their businesses.

The argument that you can’t teach someone to be an entrepreneur misses the point; opening opportunities to learn about the entrepreneurial process is the key. When we engage kids with the possibilities that their ideas could matter, or make a difference, we’ve already started planting the seeds to think differently and to discover. It’s not about success or failure, but using ingenuity to develop an idea. We should be tapping into this as educators.


If schools are looking to promote creativity and innovation, we need to encourage this from an early age.  Let's give kids more time to think things through with a critical eye and more flexibility to accomplish it. This can be achieved by incorporating entrepreneurship in age-appropriate ways to develop an understanding about real problem-solving. It also goes to the core of using design thinking and project-based learning in the classroom.

Source: Grasshopper

As educators, we want to open the minds of our youngest learners to the idea that they could change the world. We tell them you, too, can make a difference, and it’s rewarding to watch them try.