Kids playing business games, Are you kidding?
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Transcript of Kids playing business games, Are you kidding?
Teaching abstract concepts to and influencing mindset of Children
Kids Playing Business Game,
Gabriella Dodero and Xiaofeng Wang Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy
Background
What do children know about work organization?
The Junior Uni initiative @ FUB
Since 2011 FUB staff has started a volunteer programme for local children Workshops, collecting 10-15 children each, have been arranged on University premises and at schools Topics span all subject areas taught at the University, from Design to Robotics, from Entomology to Music, from Law to Theatre, etc, etc…
Our Motivation
Many concepts and principles regarding business, management or engineering are abstract, therefore difficult, to teach to students. Business game can help Paradigm-shifting concepts and principles, e.g. Lean, especially require change of existing mindsets, which proves a painful and demanding process. "plant the right seeds from the beginning"
R. Blunt, “Does Game-Based Learning Work? Results from Three Recent Studies,” The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education
Conference (I/ITSEC), NTSA, Orlando, Florida, USA, pp. 945-954, 2007.
Theoretical Grounding
• Kids of 7-11 years old are able to undertake concrete operations, and reflect on them.
• Therefore it is possible to teach
them business concepts, even if they are abstract
• However, kids are easily bored by traditional lecturing. They would very much enjoy and grasp new concepts through learning-by-doing and smart games.
Piaget, J. (1953) The Origin of Intelligence in the Child, Selected works, (Vol.3) Routledge, xi,425p. Ginsburg, H. and S. Opper (1979). Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development, Prentice Hall.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, MCB University Press, vol. 9, no. 5.
Main Research Focus
How to adapt business games to teach young kids fundamental business and organizational concepts, e.g., Lean?
Lean Lego Game: Original
Process
3 rounds:
Simulating a product line to build
1. Push 2. Pull 3. Workstation
Game Adaptation for Kids
The game facilitator impersonates.
Simulating a product line to build
Still 3 rounds:
But shorter iterations per round 1. Push 2. Pull 3. Workstation
adding fun!!
adding fun!!
A Grown-up Session | Round 1 (Push) (9 students, aged 23-31) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/UC_jAk2ePqc
A Grown-up Session | Round 2 (Pull) (9 students, aged 23-31) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/K3yKevIAgvg
A Grown-up Session | Round 3 (Workstation) (9 students, aged 23-31) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/fna7jqhl4Ig
A Kids Session | Round 1 (Push) (8 kids, aged 8-12) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/6hTPM9eMoHg
A Kids Session | Round 2 (Pull) (8 kids, aged 8-12) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/3SNX_hZwmuE
A Kids Session | Round 3 (Workstation) (8 kids, aged 8-12) Youtube link: http://youtu.be/hc00IaBjoa8
Lessons Learnt
• “Men or machines, who will win?”
• Kids get some (tough) concepts intuitively – But older ones complain
that “nothing good will come out of chaos”!!
• Business games can be adapted for youngsters
Thank You!!! Questions?
Gabriella Dodero Xiaofeng Wang [email protected] [email protected]
“We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people: sometimes they follow it!”
E. W. Dijkstra, 1972