Mini-Society |
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Overview | Program Length |
| Schedule and online materials) | Student Reflections | |
| For More Information |
| The Mini-Society program was created by Marilyn L. Kourilsky, a former UCLA professor. It is supported by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. |
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Simply, Mini-Society is a self-organizing, experience-based approach to instructing students on entrepreneurship, economics, government, career opportunity, consumer issues, and values. The teacher functions as the facilitator with the students doing most of the discovery, usually by trial-and-error, firsthand experience.
The program can be tailored for any grade level and the expected outcomes the teacher desires.
In the Mini-Society shown here, the program was tailored for a fourth grade classroom. The purpose was to cover many of the economic principles required by the state of Michigan, as well as some required beyond fourth grade. The program lasted about seven weeks in the classroom, with lessons occurring three times a week (one and one-half hours each session).
The schedule outlines the specific lessons that were used during this period.
Four resource books by Marilyn Kourilsky provide information on how to set up, maintain, and improve Mini-Society. They are:
In addition, the Mini-Society Citizen's Journal by Marilyn Kourilsky provides worksheets in conjunction with many of the Mini-Society lessons.
More information on Mini-Society can be found at: http://www.minisociety.org/ and at The Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Clearinghouse on Entrepreneurship Education at http://www.celcee.edu.
