Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- Students at St. Mary's School in Platteville recently got an opportunity to showcase their inventions as part of an entrepreneur curriculum introduced to the school by the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Southwestern Wisconsin Small Business Development Center and UW-Extension Grant County.

Gary Smith, director of the SWSBDC and Paul Thares, community resource development agent of UW-Extension Grant County, collaborated on the project. The curriculum was adapted from Marketplace for Kids, which is currently taught in North Dakota elementary schools. It meets the national content standards for entrepreneurship education and national education standards for STEM (Science, Technolgy, Engineering, English and Math).

"We have to get them excited about entrepreneurship at a young age," said Smith.

Smith and Thares worked with Theresa Caccia's fourth grade class for an hour and a half each day for over five days. During the first lesson, Inventive and Creative Thinking, students learned that many inventions come from frustrations and they were asked to come up with a list of their frustrations. The class then had to come up with possible solutions for five frustrations: tacos break when eating, slides get hot in the sun, lawn furniture blows in the yard and trash blows in the window wells.

Students also researched young inventors "Inventors of some commonly known products became inventors as early as age five. I wanted to show the students that you don't have to be an adult to be an inventor," said Smith.

Other lesson plans were Problem Solving, Entrepreneurship-Six Types of Entrepreneurs and Eight Steps to Being an Inventor. Throughout the lesson, students learned every aspect of owning a business from marketing to producing the product. They researched and watched commercials, wrote a business plan and for their final project, invented or improved upon a toy.

Students began the invention process by asking their parents what their favorite toy was as a child. They thought of ways to improve upon it or invented a totally new toy. Inventions included motorized K'nex cars, a remote controlled boomerang, a superbug killer and doll clothes. Students showcased their inventions to other classes and the community at an Expo Day on April 1.

Donna Burton, school to work supervisor of Cooperative Education Service Agency #3 for regional schools, was also present at Expo Day. She came to see what the kids were doing so CESA #3 could potentially implement some of the concepts and lesson material into the School to Work Program. Burton and Smith would like to see Marketplace for Kids implemented in all 31 school districts within the CESA #3 region. In addition to St. Mary's, the curriculum has been introduced to Doudna Elementary School in Richland Center and will be introduced to Highland Elementary School in Highland. Teachers in Northern Illinois have already expressed interest in the curriculum as well. Smith hopes that after the curriculum is introduced, teachers will continue to expand upon the entrepreneur lessons. Long term, Smith would like to establish a lesson plan database in cooperation with CESA #3 which would be freely accessible to teachers.

"I believe that if you don't get students comfortable with the concepts and process when they are young, they are less likely to take risks as adults. This curriculum and the impact on these students is the future of our region. If youth don't see a way to support themselves here in southwest Wisconsin through small business, they're going to pursue a career elsewhere," said Smith.

The SWSBDC strives to support business development and growth in Southwest Wisconsin. SWSBDC clients consist of individuals looking to start a small business and those who already own and operate a small business.

The SWSBDC offers free, confidential one-on-one counseling on topics such as preparing a business plan, financing a business, recruiting and hiring the right employees, marketing and international business. It also provides free or low cost training seminars, often in collaboration with its partners to groups of clients who share an interest in a particular topic.

Anyone wanting more information about Marketing for Kids may contact Paul Thares at UW-Extension Grant County at (608) 723-2125 or the SWSBDC at (608) 342-1038 or email at swsbdc@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Gary Smith, director, Southwest Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, (608) 342-1038, smithga@uwplatt.edu Written by: Krystle Kurdi, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, kurdik@uwplatt.edu