With all this talk of innovation and entrepreneurship being essential skills for students of the future, you may be wondering just how you can do that and just how you can get them excited about what they’re learning. We thought we’d put together this article with some of our top tips for inspiring innovation in the classroom.
Connect Your Learning With The Real World
Students are constantly searching for how what they are learning in the classroom can be applied in the real world and it ties back to the age old question of, “when will I ACTUALLY use this?”. A great way to do this is to give them examples and tell them stories of how what you’re doing is actually being used in the real world. Do some research and jump on google to see what companies and people are using the skills being taught and share these with your students to show them the value.
Industry Mentors
As well as telling students about all the exciting stuff happening in industry, it’s also a great idea to bring some of that stuff into the classroom by inviting guests to talk to and work with the students. For the students, seeing someone that is out in the world doing some of the exciting things they’ve been learning about is a great way to get them excited about the content and to really invest in what they’re learning.
Influencers
Another great way to connect with students and to get the excited is by showing them the prospect of what they could be in a short period of time. Whilst Elon Musk and Richard Branson are great examples of rockstar business people, it’s often an unattainable goal for students. What does however work well is finding some local young entrepreneurs that are only a few years older than your students and showcasing them. It’s something that is achievable for the students to aim for with a bit of hard work and determination.
Calls Around The World
One thing that I do fairly frequently as a young entrepreneur is jump on calls (often on platforms like Skype and Zoom) with awesome students across the country and around the world. With technology, distance is no longer a barrier and you can have experts in the field presenting to your students from all around the world.
Ask The Students
With technology and just about everything these days developing at such a rapid rate, it can be hard to keep up. This is why instead of trying to be an expert in the field, it can be a great opportunity to talk to the students and ask them about what they’re interested in and what they want to learn about. This way you can ensure your classes stay real and relevant because who knows trends better than students?
—
There are just a couple of our top tips for bringing innovation into the classroom and a few examples from what we’ve seen in schools across the country. We can’t wait to see how you inspiring innovation amongst your students.
If you want to find out more about how we inspire innovation in the classroom at BOP, make sure to check out our For Schools Page, or perhaps Download A Free Resource.