Week Two: INSPIRE Continued

 

Overview

During the second week, keep students engaged as they continue to examine attributes of a good product or service and continue brainstorming and exploring ideas. Students will build their team norms, practice pitching, learn about prototyping, and continue brainstorming.

 

Objectives

  • Get to know each other, including strengths and motivations.
  • Establish expectations and excite students about the program learning opportunity.
  • Collaboratively develop group working norms.
  • Consider a variety of possible products, services, and business models.  

 

Teacher Preparation

  • Review detailed instructions, videos, and materials in advance to become familiar with materials/activities.
  • Prepare items needed for Bag of Junk brainstorming activity
  • Prepare photocopies of the Product and Service Research Worksheet.
  • Review Week Two Slideshow before class. 

 

Agenda

  1. Recap and Expectations (5 min)
  2. Defining Group Norms (30 min) - Optional
  3. Bag of Junk & Pitching Activity (30 min)
  4. Student Innovation (15 min)
  5. Importance of Prototyping (15 min)
  6. Product and Service Research Worksheet (20 min)
  7. Continue Brainstorming (30 min)
  8. Questions and Wrap-up (5 min)


Activities

 

1. Recap and Expectations (5 min)

• Ask students to recap what they learned last week and review the expectations that were set out in week one. 

• Present the Week Two Slideshow and  go through the slides as you go through each activity. 

2. Defining Group Norms (30 min) - Optional

• Norms form the basis of collective expectations that members of a community or group have for each other. Explain the importance of norms and how effective teams have commonly shared norms and values. Provide an example from your work environment that shows how a norm works. If you can’t think of an example, use this one: “In a workplace, people might expect each other to call ahead if they anticipate being late for their shift."

Go through the "Whose Norms are These?" slides in the Week Two Slideshow, and ask students which company (Coca Cola, Facebook, or Google) aligns with each of the norms projected. 

Tell students that often in our eagerness to embark on a new project, we overlook an essential aspect that must happen first - creating an agreement on the expectations defining the working relationship between team members. Establishing team norms early provides team members with clear expectations about how everyone on the team will behave and how business will be conducted. 

Ask students to think about the following categories and questions: 

  • TIME: When and how often will we meet? When will the meetings start and end? What do we do when we go overtime? 
  • LISTENING: How will we encourage active listening? How will we handle when people interrupt each other? 
  • DECISIONS: How will we make decisions? When will we use consensus? How will we handle disagreements and conflict? 
  • EXPECTATIONS: How will we communicate expectations? How will we ensure integrity? What do we expect from the team? What do we expect from individuals? 
  • CONFIDENTIALITY: How will we be transparent? How will we respect privacy? What things should and should not be said in a meeting? 
  • PARTICIPATION: How will we encourage participation? Will we have an attendance policy? How will we ensure that all feel valued and included? 

Have each student think about what behaviours will be necessary for their team to be successful and have each propose one team norm that they feel strongly about. If you are having trouble coming up with some norms, reference the Building Your Team Norms Discussion document in week two materials for some examples. Record their proposed norms, combining similar ideas and then narrow the list down to 10-15 norms that everyone agrees to. If possible, post these norms for reference throughout the remainder of the program. The team can revisit the norms at any time and change or add to the list to help the team function more effectively. 

Tell students that the importance of ethics in business should be woven into all aspects of the company. The company needs to formulate a Code of Ethics. Business ethics are a set of rules or guidelines that management or individuals follow when making decisions facing their company. The Test of Disclosure is a method that can be used to solve ethical dilemmas. A simple question can be used by all students to check if a decision is ethical. 

"How would we feel if everyone knew about the decision we are making?" 

If they are not concerned, they have likely made an ethical choice, If they are, they have probably not made the right decision. 

Some stakeholders to keep in mind include: 

  • Company employees
  • Shareholders
  • Customers
  • Not-for-Profit or Charity being supported by the business venture
  • Financial auditors 
  • Teacher/mentors 
  • School administrators and staff 
  • Parents 
  • Media and Press

By the end of the discussion, each team should select a small list of the best norms that the entire group seems willing to support. Explain that all norms evolve a little over time; however, it is better to begin with some commonly held understandings about how the group will interact together. Record the shared norms for everyone to review and endorse. If and when difficulties occur, the team can refer back to these norms to reset expectations. 

 

3. Bag of Junk & Pitching Activity (30 minutes)

Explain that choosing a product or service is one of the most important decisions a company makes.  It’s important to think carefully about your market, consider the steps needed to produce a product and research where you can source materials for production. In this activity, students will get a chance to create a product or service and pitch it to their teacher and class. 

 

Preparation:

•Gather various random objects from school (i.e. spoons, screws, bar of soap, paper clips, foam cups, etc.)

• Make a few bags out of these random objects

 

Instructions:

• Divide the group into teams consisting of three to six members. The teams should determine how they will work together and make decisions.

•  Provide each team with their bag filled with assorted objects.  These can be almost anything, i.e. a wooden spoon, a screw, a bar of soap, a computer disk, etc.

• Explain that the objective of the game is to create a potential new product or service using only the items in the bag. Encourage teams to think about a daily problem they run into personally or a bigger world issue as inspiration for their new product or service.

•  Not all items must be used nor do they have to be utilized in their intended use.

• Students will have 15 minutes to work in their groups to come up with the creative product ideas and prepare their short pitch (1-minute max)

 

Pitches must include:

  • A clearly stated problem.
  • A description of the product or service solution.
  • Who is the audience and/or customer? (target audience)
  • What benefits will they enjoy?
  • What will it cost?
  • Why would a customer choose their product over another (competitive advantage)
  • What catchy tag line will attract the attention the product deserves?

 

Give each group the opportunity to prepare and practice their pitch before presenting it. Mentors can provide feedback on product or service ideas as well as pitches.

 

Debrief Questions:

  1. How easy or difficult was it to identify a problem? How easy or difficult was it to create a solution with your bag of junk items?
  2. How did the dynamics of your team help you be more innovative and creative?
  3. How could the team improve the decision-making process?
  4. Which presentation was most effective? Why?

 

Let students know that as a wrap-up to the program they will be working together to deliver a pitch to you (and any other guests you want to invite) as if they were potential funders.

4. Student Innovation (15 min)

•  In this activity, you will help students clarify the difference between innovation and invention. Discuss the two words asking the students to offer examples of what they would consider innovation versus invention.

•  Watch the Innovation or Invention video and use it to spark conversation

•  Go through the two past JA companies (Cards Reincarnate and Sitto) with students, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each one based on first impressions and limited information. How would the group classify each example – innovation or invention? Consider the following discussion questions:

  • Why are these innovations?
  • What problems were the Achievers trying to solve?
  • Do you think these products fill a need in the market?
  • Are these filling a customer “want” or a “need”?
  • What are some things that customers want?
  • And what do they need?
  • How would you know the difference?

 

5. Importance of Prototyping (15 minutes)

• As students are working through ideas, review with them the importance of preparing a prototype. A few slides are available in the in the week two slides. A prototype is defined as:

an initial or preliminary version from which your product is developed to provide insight into the functionality of your design and inform changes needed.

•The biggest benefit of prototyping is that it prevents important factors from being overlooked and it stops you making any assumptions that could be revealed as inaccurate later on in the process.

• Prototyping is important for several reasons:

a) Evaluate and Test Your Idea: Ideas and drawings of a design can sometimes be a far cry from the real world in which the product will be used. By creating a prototype, it is possible to sit down with a preliminary version of the product vision and determine what works and what does not. Often glaring omissions emerge that, initially, weren’t obvious.

b) Clarifying Production Details: By prototyping before production begins, it is possible to take a glimpse at the production process and see if any steps can be changed, combined or even removed. This streamlines production and minimizes production costs. An idea without a prototype is just a theoretical concept. Prototypes often greatly enhance product pitches.

c) Selling Your Idea: It is also far easier to sell to potential customers when they can hold a prototype during your pitch. It can be difficult to get commitment with only a vague concept.

• Students can create prototypes using materials around their house/school or purchase low cost materials or using online technology if available. This is the time to explore any resources and technology available to your specific program that can be used in prototyping a product/service. Let students know that you will be returning to prototyping as a group once a final product/service is decided upon.

 

6. Product or Service Research Worksheet (20 min)

• Explain to students that next week the group will decide on one product/service to focus their attention on for the rest of the program. The Product or Service Research Worksheet is going to help them narrow down their choices.

• Review the slides with the group that explain the Product or Service Research Worksheet. For the purpose of this exercise explain to students that you want them to envision that they will actually be running a business with the product/service idea and that their own time and money is invested. Provide them with the Product or Service Worksheet at this point.

• The Product or Service Research Worksheet will help them work through the viability of some of their ideas. They should spend time at home completing this prior to the next session. Students should only select one idea to explore in detail and will be asked to pitch the idea they researched next. They will work within their small team (2-5) to determine their idea. However, each student is encouraged to research one idea, and then the group can determine which idea to move forward with. 

•Remember that student's ideas should support at least one of the UN sustainable development goals.  Students can start by researching what kind of products or services can help meet one of these goals. They can research by checking out all the different goals on the official website - https://sdgs.un.org/goals and can read this article 17 Companies Helping Meet the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals 

• Be sure to establish the expectation that the Product or Service Research Worksheet must be completed and each student needs to bring an idea forward to their team next meeting. 

7. Continue Brainstorming (30 min)

• Allow the students to break off individually in in small groups to begin brainstorming an idea for their Product or Service Research Worksheet. The Product or Service Research will be submitted to JA after week 3.

• Allow them to explore any technology or resources available to them in their program space or personally

• When the groups have established the idea they are going to work on allow them to begin their Product or Service Research Worksheet.

 

8. Questions and Wrap Up (5 min)

• Create an opening for students to ask any questions about the meeting prior to wrapping up.

 

10. Next Steps

•  Students complete Product and Service Research Worksheet for one idea and prepare to share with their small group next week


Last modified: Wednesday, 6 August 2025, 10:02 PM