Page 185 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

174 Joseph Kayne

students must be “in the game.” It is this imperative that has driven the
most visible and dramatic changes in entrepreneurship education pedagogy
at all educational levels requiring experiential-based pedagogy and extra-
curricular practicum activities. It is not teacher-directed instruction that has
led to the most significant teaching moments. Instead, instructor responses
to students’ questions that result from experiential activity provide more in-
sight and have a longer lasting impact.
In the mid-1960s, the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine,
researched the average learning retention rates for different teaching tech-
niques (Wood 2004). Student retention rates ranged from a low of 5 per-
cent for material presented in lecture to highs of 75 percent when students
applied their new knowledge and 90 percent when students were asked to
share what they had learned with others. These findings affirm the value of
programs such as Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) as effective methods of
teaching entrepreneurship. The SIFE experience includes student teams that
support community entrepreneurship efforts through assistance to aspiring
adult entrepreneurs and mentoring at-risk youth.
Only a small percentage of entrepreneurship students will start busi-
nesses immediately after graduation from high school or college. Based on
our observations at Miami University, a student may spend three to five
years working in a salaried position before taking the entrepreneurial
“leap.” The career path may be explained by two phenomena. First, only af-
ter observing a company or an industry from the inside do students begin
to identify opportunities for creating additional value in the marketplace.
Second, students’ confidence in their ability to start a successful enterprise
increases with their understanding of and experiences in the day-to-day op-
erations of a business, especially in an industry in which they plan to com-
pete.
This time lag between formal education and practical application of
knowledge places an additional burden on entrepreneurship educators. As
noted previously, recognition that entrepreneurship education is not about
facts creates an advantage since research suggests students do not retain
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facts for even a minimal period of time. Therefore, the value of any entre-
preneurship education must consist of more than the transfer of informa-
tion.
We believe the long-term residual value of entrepreneurship education
fits into two categories. Primary is students’ increased capacity as innovators
and problem solvers derived from their developing the entrepreneurial skill
set discussed above. To ensure that these skills do not deteriorate over time,
teachers should remind students that such skills can and should be utilized
on a regular basis in varied situations. For example, a summer internship or
even a vacation from an entrepreneurial perspective provides an opportu-