Social Entrepreneurship

​All-Gender Course; Prerequisite - Completion of Algebra II and one year of high school social studies; Fall semester or Full-year course
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Social entrepreneurs envision and manage the future by tackling the existential environmental, social, and political issues of our time.  In this class, students discover what it means be a successful social entrepreneur as they identify how to define problems, devise solutions for impact, identify opportunities to effect change, envision the future, and turn ideas into action. In the capstone project, teams put these new skills into practice by proposing a concrete solution to one of the grand challenges we have identified. The primary objective of this course is to equip students with the skills and approaches to navigate and be change agents in a rapidly changing, complex future. Students wishing to pursue a social entrepreneurship research or design project in Semester II may enroll in the Research/Design Seminar. 
 
For students continuing into Semester II, the course shifts into personalized, project-based work, where students engage in deep, sustained inquiry, authentic and iterative research, critical analysis, and rigorous reflection, revision, and assessment as they journey through a self-designed, long-term research or design project on the topic of their choosing.  Guided by their One Schoolhouse teacher, students pursue individual study/self-assessment or collaborative seminar/peer-review.  Pathway options from which students might choose include:
  • Spring Design Seminar:  In this seminar, students design a solution to a real-world problem.  Through the engineering design process/scientific method, students gather and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of their model or the accuracy of their hypothesis.  Students may prototype and produce a public product in this seminar. 
  • Spring Research Seminar:  In this seminar, students answer a theoretical or ethical question.  Utilizing the social science/humanities tools for source evaluation, students collect, critique, and evaluate artifacts or primary source documents to explore their thesis.  Students may create a written, multimedia, or artistic product in this seminar. 
Upon completion of their inquiry-driven project, students will have gained academic maturity and expanded their ability to engage in a diverse and changing world.  They will be able to draw and defend conclusions from theoretical underpinnings, contextual background, and mathematical analysis or source evaluation.  Finally, they will have created and tested something useful of their own design or will be able to defend a position based on their own research.
WHAT STUDENTS SAY

Social Entrepreneurship is a new course for 19/20 school year at One Schoolhouse. To read what students have said about other One Schoolhouse courses, visit our What Students Say webpage!

WHAT STUDENTS DO
Learning is an active process at One Schoolhouse. Students design, create and apply. And, they engage with classmates and connect with their teachers through discussions, video conferences, and projects. Specifically, in this class students will:
  • Set goals that drive their learning. Students reflect regularly on their growth, and meet on video chat with their online teacher to review progress towards their goals.
  • Have choice in how they learn new content and practice new skills. Students are given agency to determine the best ways for them to learn.
  • Apply what they are learning to the real world. Learning is meaningful and connects to concepts outside the classroom.
  • Practice constructive engagement in a diverse and changing world. Students interact with classmates from across the country and around the world.
  • Gain academic maturity. Online learning takes greater discipline and independence than a traditional face-to-face classroom. Teachers support students to build this skill.
MEET A TEACHER FOR THIS COURSE
SIGNATURE ACTIVITES
Examples of signature activities and projects for this course are:
  • From the United Nations to Main Street:  In this project, students select one of the UN’s 17 Sustainability Goals to tackle in their home town, school, or family.  Using the principles of design as their structure, students devise an actionable, small-scale solution within their control that changes localized behavior on an intractable global problem.  The goal of the activity is to effect change at the grassroots level.  
  • Social Entrepreneurship Capstone:  This project, due in December, is the culmination of the fall semester.  Students apply the tools they have learned to propose a large-scale solution to the grand challenge they are most passionate about solving.  
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SECOND SEMESTER?
​One Schoolhouse is proud to expanded our semester course offerings! These nine courses give students the opportunity to enroll in a project-based second semester research or design seminar. Just like our full-year courses, fall semester courses and the optional second semester seminars are created and taught by dedicated, experienced teachers in the field. The spring seminars give students the opportunity to engage in a self-designed, long-term project on the topic of their choosing. Check out the video below to hear from the facilitators and learn more about your seminar project!
​Kathleen Brennan
Social Sciences Teacher
BA St. Peter’s University
MA Rutgers University