Grades 7-9 Community Matters

Hook: Dragon’s Den! Watch the following episodes of Dragons Den. Identify the products or services that are being pitched to the Dragons! reverse.html reverse.html

Social Issues Poverty Environmental Health Care Etc Existing businesses: Hungry Heart Café ( Look Good, Feel Great (

Purpose To expose young people to the vast number of business opportunities that aim to encourage creativity and innovation. To promote the spirit of enterprise education in junior high. To promote entrepreneurship as a real career choice. To promote the spirit of community involvement.

Outcomes: Unit Six- Creating a Preferred Future SCO 15 The student will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of economic challenges and opportunities that may affect Canada’s future

Techniques for Generating an Idea Brainstorm your hobbies, talents, or interests to think about a business or product you could design to support or enhance your community Investigate sources that explore business plans for students (internet, business magazines, books, etc). Organize information into categories (type, marketing, growth opportunities, risks)

Introductory Activity: A new idea is merely the modification of an old idea! Choose a product or service to improve. 1. list all its parts and features of each part. 2. alter or modify the features to better meet the original purpose, to improve the product, or to satisfy a new purpose.

Intoductory Activity cont, Questions to ask yourself: CRAZY ANSWERS ACCEPTED!!!! How can I make the product or service…. Safer, cleaner, slower, or faster? More convenient or inexpensive? Automatic? Self-contained, portable, mobile, or disposable? Smaller or larger in size? Easier to use? More attractive and appealing? Lighter, stronger, adjustable, thinner? quieter or louder? Reversible? Less expensive to replace, repair, or reuse? Easier to clean, maintina, lubricate, or adjust?

Challenge Identify and name a business opportunity that you believe could work in your community, region or province. Student must: Write an essay ( words) identifying a business opportunity in their region of the province or anywhere in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is very important that students use the following questions to describe their business idea:

Questions you MUST answer in your essay! Each question could be answered in a separate paragraph. 1. What social issue is being addressed in your community, region or province (environmental, social, etc) 2. What do you think are the potential causes of this issue? 3. What are possible solutions to this problem? 4. What buisness could you start to address this issue? 5. What would the benefits be to starting this business for you, your community and those directly affected? 6. How would you get the message out and how could you get your community involved?

Evaluation Rubric Writing Skills Holistic Rubric Presentation (visual elements and includes illustrations/diagrams/ etc) Due: February 20 th.

Prizes A regional winner will be declared at the 7, 8, and 9 level for a total of 12 winners. Each winner will receive a cash prize, a promotional prize and a certificate Grand Prize: Provincial winner will be announced in grades 7, 8, and 9 from the regional winners, for a total of 3 provincial winners. Each provincial winner will receive an additional cash prize. Each provincial winner will have their winning essay published in the following year’s Teacher’s guide.

Entry Form All Students must complete theform and attach it to the front of their entry.

Provincial winners In your groups read the provincial winner that you have been assigned. Answer the following questions: 1. What type of business is planned and what products and/or services will they be offering? Explain in detail. 2. What consumer need does it fill? 3. Why will the business idea be successful? 4. What are its growth opportunities? 5. Is the business idea unique in the marketplace? Explain how. 6. What are the major risks associated with the business idea?