Learning by Teaching: The Accelerator Rap Approach to Entrepreneurship Education

Conventional wisdom and educational research both suggest that a good way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. While there are many forms of learning by teaching, entrepreneurship education tends to sidestep this approach and embrace experiential learning and mentorship instead. Rarely does entrepreneurship education make full use of learning by teaching (or learning by preparing materials for teaching others). With the Accelerator Rap Challenge, undergraduate students learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurial work by grappling with the challenges of teaching these concepts to children, especially girls and children of color. They compete by creating SchoolHouseRock-style videos about Disciplined Entrepreneurship.

The Challenge is based on an undergraduate course offered in the Penn State College of Education. The course, also called Accelerator Rap, is a project-based interdisciplinary course that creates a constructionist context for entrepreneurship education. It is worth 3-credit hours in the Intercollegiate Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation as well as in Art, Education, English, and Music.

Over the semester, students in the course learn entrepreneurial fundamentals. They also learn about the lack of diversity in innovative entrepreneurship and the ways that multicultural education can create opportunities for inclusion. And they are exposed to case studies of innovative entrepreneurship that feature founders who are women and/or people of color. With the help of guest lecturers, students write educational poems and lyrics about the entrepreneurial concepts that they’ve learned. They also develop beats and record their lyrics onto their phones or computers. Students then create animatic images related to their lyrics. Eventually, these files form a brief ( less than 2 minutes) animated music video about an entrepreneurial concept that is intended to appeal to girls, children of color, and children from rural and working-class backgrounds. The course concludes with a public event that requires each student to give a short verbal presentation about innovative entrepreneurship and diversity as a way to introduce his/her animated music video before it is screened for the audience. The finished student videos have one more phase: they are transformed into open-source learning materials for K-12 settings.

While this formal course has been well-received by students and recognized with an award by the Academy of Management, the Accelerator Rap approach has the capacity to engage more learners. In 2022, the first Accelerator Rap Challenge is launching, and all undergraduates at US universities are eligible to participate.

In the 2022 Accelerator Rap Challenge, all teams will create short animated music videos about the six themes of Disciplined Entrepreneurship. These SchoolHouseRock-style videos will be designed to help girls and children of color see themselves in innovative entrepreneurial careers. Between the start of January and the end of February, teams will be able to learn about the concepts highlighted in Disciplined Entrepreneurship, build their awareness of matters of diversity, and hone their creative skills. They also will build their networks and learn to work on an interdisciplinary team. And they will add a polished media piece to their portfolios before graduation. There is no fee for anyone to participate.

The videos will be evaluated in five categories: clarity of entrepreneurial concept, educational merit, musical/lyrical artistry, visual artistry, and inclusive spirit of the contest. The Finale and Awards Presentation will celebrate a winning entry from each category and an overall grand prize winner. The winning entries also will be featured in a film fest hosted by the Penn State Arts and Design Research Incubator later in 2022.

If you teach Disciplined Entrepreneurship to undergraduate students, you might want to encourage them to participate in the Accelerator Rap Challenge—either as a part of a course, as extra credit, or as an extracurricular way to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge. More information about the Challenge can be found here.