Using engaging pedagogy to develop entrepreneurial creativity of STEM students: reflections from the Ideate project

This paper will make recommendations for how STEM educators could incorporate engaging pedagogic approaches from the Ideate project (Ideate.me, 2014) into their own teaching. It encourages educators from different disciplines from within and outside STEM subjects to work together to promote students’ cross disciplinary entrepreneurial thinking and creativity.

STEM Lecturers often don't see themselves as entrepreneurial - "I haven't had my own business so how can I teach entrepreneurship?" Entrepreneurship is wider than just creating businesses, it’s about fostering creativity that promotes idea generation and helps entrepreneurs use this creativity to solve problems and deal with uncertainty. The European Commission recognise the value of educating entrepreneurial creativity (EU 2008, 2010). Entrepreneurial mindsets and skills incorporate EC and are also important “for ‘intrapreneurs’ who fulfil the role of entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators within a group or organisation”. (EU, 2020)

So how can educators help STEM students develop their entrepreneurial creativity, and in turn their employability? Taking the Ideate module (Ideate.me, 2014) as a case study, this paper presents details of the module and offers suggestions which could be used successfully by STEM educators.

Qualitative feedback from the first cohort of students suggests the experiential learning pedagogy motivated them to develop communication skills including presenting, pitching, negotiation and working with people from other disciplines. One student commented “I feel more confident pitching and presenting ideas. It has opened my mind to show how creative solutions can be used to solve problems. It has improved my business knowledge”. An evaluation of the feedback received from the students will be presented to confirms the module’s success.