Entrepreneurial Education - SOCACT Project

This site is dedicated to an action research project that I am working with, SOCACT, that operates in South Bend, IN; Durban, South Africa; and four sites in east Africa (one each in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania). The SOCACT has a core team of students, other professionals, and community residents who develop interventions in
collaboration with members of marginalized groups. The project director responds to calls for assistance by sending in teams of trainers and scientists. The teams talk with people in the community to understand the problem, decide together on the best approach to bring about change, and work with residents to make it all happen.

In the process, the SOCACT conducts social science research to close the gap between what we teach in the classroom and what happens in real life. Ultimately, this knowledge will be used to change university curricula, social policy, and public perceptions.

My project involves work with the Bernelli Educational Model, a model which describes how cognitive maps develop in children and then serve as guides for their entrepreneurial behavior. I will be working, on a case study of the five skills learned over five stages of growth, and five steps of experiences to reinforce entrepreneurial and leadership potential.

The model creates a framework for producing entrepreneurial leaders who may start businesses or use their skills to grow organizations, educational institutions, social service agencies, corporations, non profits, and government.

ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION - SOCACT PROJECT

A Lesson in Organizing to Learn: Creating a Concept Map using Bubble.us

In my Reading Strategies class, we cover the topic of recognizing patterns of organization and using patterns to organize what is read into concept maps, outlines, summaries and other forms to aid comprehension and retention. Bubble.us is user friendly and is an excellent application to use to create the concept maps required for completion of this lesson on Organizing to Learn.

The Lesson: A process is composed of well defined steps. For instance, a numbered list is one of the ways to organize ideas so that you can understand them. A concept map is another way to organize ideas. A concept map can show sequence or directions. For example, we recently read about The Gentrification Process. The stages of the gentrification process could be represented using a concept map. (See Example)



Students are then given opportunity to create a concept map from an passage. Students are to watch for stages, as they read the passage, and then will create a concept map. The reading the students will use is on Chain Migration.

A Community of Readers: A Thematic Approach To Reading
Roberta Alexander with Jan Jarrell
Chapter 5: Patterns of Organization

Jing - A Visual Lesson: Mapping

In addition to outlining, another way to organize information for learning is to create a visual pattern that diagrams information, such as a map. Students can show how information in a paragraph or in a longer passage can be organized visually so that you immediately understand the relationships between the main idea, the major supporting details, and the minor supporting details. Recognizing main ideas and major and minor supporting details is an essential skill to master. In this exercise, students will practice organizing information by drawing maps, using Microsoft SmartArt.
Text: Alexander, Roberta. 2008 Joining A Community of Readers: A Thematic Approach to Reading, Wadswork Cengage Learning
Mapping_ENGL_031