TY - JOUR

T1 - Teaching entrepreneurship as lived experience through ‘wonderment exercises’

AU - Klapper, Rita

AU - Neergaard, Helle

N1 - Rita G. Klapper , , Helle Neergaard , (2017), Teaching Entrepreneurship as Lived Experience Through ‘Wonderment Exercises’, in Paul Jones , Gideon Maas , Luke Pittaway (ed.) Entrepreneurship Education (Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 7) Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.145 - 170

PY - 2017/5

Y1 - 2017/5

N2 - This chapter focuses on how students think before we can teach them how to act. This idea is anchored in the observation that most institutions of higher education tend to teach their students to become employees, whether in the public or private sector, rather than to become employers. Thus, the mindset with which we equip our students is not sensitised to entrepreneurial action. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to propose and illustrate a more comprehensive approach to teaching entrepreneurship, which aims to transform the way that students think about entrepreneurship. In order to achieve this objective, we identify and develop techniques for promoting entrepreneurial awareness and preparedness in our student population, and provide tools for educators to promote the individual’s innate drive to perfect him/herself, thus recognising his/her own need for personal growth. At the theoretical level, we build on the authors’ teaching experiences from different cultural contexts, which show ways in which alternative learning initiatives may enhance enterprising thinking among students. Based on our experiences with the influence of context, we propose that it is necessary to consider seven different, yet interconnected teaching principles, which may influence the impact of entrepreneurship education and which relate to the why; where; when; what and how of entrepreneurship. In continuation, on a practical level, we suggest a coherent system of innovative educational techniques, so-called Verwunderungsübungen, or wonderment exercises, that can be used individually or in combination. By creating a comprehensive teaching paradigm for entrepreneurship we pay tribute to entrepreneurship being an inherently dynamic phenomenon, which goes beyond exclusively focusing on new venture creation.

AB - This chapter focuses on how students think before we can teach them how to act. This idea is anchored in the observation that most institutions of higher education tend to teach their students to become employees, whether in the public or private sector, rather than to become employers. Thus, the mindset with which we equip our students is not sensitised to entrepreneurial action. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to propose and illustrate a more comprehensive approach to teaching entrepreneurship, which aims to transform the way that students think about entrepreneurship. In order to achieve this objective, we identify and develop techniques for promoting entrepreneurial awareness and preparedness in our student population, and provide tools for educators to promote the individual’s innate drive to perfect him/herself, thus recognising his/her own need for personal growth. At the theoretical level, we build on the authors’ teaching experiences from different cultural contexts, which show ways in which alternative learning initiatives may enhance enterprising thinking among students. Based on our experiences with the influence of context, we propose that it is necessary to consider seven different, yet interconnected teaching principles, which may influence the impact of entrepreneurship education and which relate to the why; where; when; what and how of entrepreneurship. In continuation, on a practical level, we suggest a coherent system of innovative educational techniques, so-called Verwunderungsübungen, or wonderment exercises, that can be used individually or in combination. By creating a comprehensive teaching paradigm for entrepreneurship we pay tribute to entrepreneurship being an inherently dynamic phenomenon, which goes beyond exclusively focusing on new venture creation.

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Entrepreneurship education

KW - Teaching principles

KW - Wonderment exercises

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019733640&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/S2040-724620170000007011

DO - 10.1108/S2040-724620170000007011

M3 - Conference article in journal

AN - SCOPUS:85019733640

VL - 7

SP - 145

EP - 170

JO - Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research

JF - Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research

SN - 2040-7246

ER -