The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to Cooper-Hewitt’s Design for the Other 90% exhibition.
1. Introduce your students to Cooper-Hewitt's Design for the Other 90% exhibition by viewing the Business Week article and slideshow entitled “Gimme (Innovative) Shelter” at https://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/05/0509_cooperhewitt/index_01.htm. (Click on the arrows in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to view the slideshow.)
2. As a class, visit the Design for the Other 90% exhibition Web site at https://other90.cooperhewitt.org/. Begin by sharing the paragraphs in the "About the Exhibition" section.
When you are finished reading, provide time for students to browse the different sections of the Web site. You may also choose to have them complete this task as homework. Lead a class discussion about the exhibition, using the following questions as guidelines:
• What do you think is the purpose of the exhibition?
• What surprised you the most?
• What area interested you the most? Why?
• What did you learn?
Activity Two: Introducing Social Entrepreneurship
The purpose of this activity is to provide background information on social entrepreneurship.
1. Tell the class that they are going to learn about social entrepreneurship.
Write the following quotations on the board:
• "Social entrepreneurs identify resources where people only see problems. They view the villagers as the solution, not the passive beneficiary. They begin with the assumption of competence and unleash resources in the communities they're serving."
Source: David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
• "Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
Source: Bill Drayton, CEO, chair and founder of Ashoka
2. Have the students listen to a podcast that tells the story of a social entrepreneur who founded the Global Women’s Leadership Network at https://blog.innovatorz.org/2007/05/22/netsquared-finalist-podcast-global-womens-leadership-network/.
3. Read the following information aloud to the class:
• A social entrepreneur identifies and solves social problems on a large scale. Just as business entrepreneurs create and transform whole industries, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches, and advance sustainable solutions that create social value. Unlike traditional business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs primarily seek to generate "social value" rather than profits. And unlike the majority of non-profit organizations, their work is targeted not only towards immediate, small-scale effects, but sweeping, long-term change.
Source: https://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/
4. Divide the class into groups of three. Ask each group to create a “Help Wanted” advertisement for a social entrepreneur. Tell the students that they can use the following Web site as an additional resource https://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/. When the students are finished, have each group present its advertisement to the entire class.
Steps for Learning
Activity One: Social Entrepreneur Graphic Organizer
The purpose of this activity is to provide students with an opportunity to research the world of social entrepreneurship.
1. Divide the class into small groups. Tell the students that they are going to conduct research and construct a graphic organizer. Give each group a copy of the “Graphic Organizer Directions” handout and the “Social Entrepreneurship Graphic Organizer” handout. Review the steps on the handouts with the class prior to beginning.
2. When the students are finished, provide time for each group to present its organizers to the class. Have the students keep the organizers to use in the second part of the lesson.