Requirements:
According to Badge Explorer, Girls will find out how to come up with a business idea that improves their world, learn how to get feedback, and pitch their idea to others.
1. Create a prototype for a product, service, or technology that solves a problem2. Get feedback3. Revise your prototype4. Come up with a pitch5. Pitch your idea to an audience
When girls earn this badge, they'll have the entrepreneurial skills to come up with an idea that solves a problem, get feedback, improve their idea, and pitch their idea to others.
The VTK Plans
Introduction
As seems to be standard in the VTK plans now, the meetings for this badge begin with snack time, and then move into the opening circle/business meeting. During that time, the leader reviews a list of vocabulary words with the girls and passes out notebooks. She talks about a female entrepreneur who encourages girls to keep notebooks of their business ideas similar information A script is provided for the leader.
Creating a Prototype
The only difference between the three choices for this requirement involve inspiration. Girls are told to either think of where they live, or taken outside to look for problems they can solve, or they listen to a guest speaker, an entrepreneur, for inspiration. In any case, once inspired, the girls spend about 40 minutes using craft supplies to build or draw a prototype of their idea.
Get Feedback
There are handouts on what types of questions to ask to get feedback. After reviewing these, girls get feedback from each other. They are then sent out to get feedback from other people, or to get feedback from target customers or to create a survey to get feedback--those three choices are the options given for this requirement.
The first meeting ends, as appears to be the norm now on VTK with the girls picking the activities for the next meeting and holding a short closing ceremony where the leader reviews the concepts taught. In this case girls are asked to get feedback on their idea and to think about how that feedback can help them improve their idea.
Revise Your Prototype
At the second meeting girls review the acronym "SCAMPER" (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate or Re-arrange) and then make a new prototype that's changed in some way from the first, based on the feedback they got. They then talk about the changes they made. Another option is to create two new prototypes, using the feedback you got from the first, and then test them against each other. The third option is to come up with an entirely new idea and create a new prototype. So, basically, for this step, after reviewing the SCAMPER sheet, the girls either revise their first idea in one way, revise it in two different ways or come up with a totally new idea.
Come Up With a Pitch
There is a provided handout with the parts of a pitch on it. After reviewing it, girl either write pitch, make a poster to use during a pitch or watch a video of a female entrepreneur giving a pitch.
Pitch Your Idea to an Audience
Girls practice giving a pitch to the group. With one of the options, it doesn't go any further. The other two options are to pitch to someone in your family, or to pitch to someone at school.
My Comments
One thing we are told is that Girl Scout troops do not fundraise, we earn money. As girls get older they want activities that cost more and more money and I think this would be a great badge to tie into the money-earning. The purpose of the badge is to come up with a product, service or technology that solves a problem, and really, isn't that what any business does.
This badge plan spends a lot of time using craft supplies to develop prototypes but could the prototype be a list or business plan? In other words, instead of you as a leader saying we are going to make widgets and sell them after church, could you lead the girls through brainstorming what we could do to earn money to go to ____. get feedback on that plan from people outside the troop, revise the plan, create a pitch and give it, and then actually deliver the product/service.
I like the idea of the badge. But SCAMPER? My troop is made up of non native English speakers. Not only is SCAMPER not in their vocabulary, neither are the words of the acronym.
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