Creative Thinking: Teaching our students to take risks, seize opportunities, and value failure

Elizabeth Kisenwether, Pennsylvania State University;
Tina Seelig, Stanford University

Most courses in entrepreneurship are a blend of problem-based learning and traditional “chalk and talk” lectures. However, these approaches are not always optimal for teaching students to develop core skills/attitudes that are needed by successful entrepreneurs: the will to make choices that seem risky to others, seizing opportunities that others don’t see or ignore, and seeing failure as a part of the entrepreneurial process. This workshop focuses on a wide range of creative approaches to teaching students about opportunity recognition, risk-taking, and learning from failure. These include warm-up activities, classroom workshops, and long-term projects. In addition, participants will be encouraged to share their favorite approaches to stimulating creativity in students. There will be several hands-on activities and participants will leave with materials and resources to move the workshop back into their classrooms.