The Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Social Skills and Creativity of Preschool Children

The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of entrepreneurship education on the social skills and creativity of 5-6 year old preschool children. Quantitative and semi-experimental research method was conducted with experimental and control groups and using pre-test and post-test. The statistical population of the research includes all 5-6-year-old preschool students in Isfahan city, and two groups of 15 students were randomly selected from this population using available sampling. Data collection tools included Trends & Tauck's social skills questionnaire (2014) and Torrance's creative thinking test (1990). The reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha coefficient for social skill (0.82) and for creativity (0.83). Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (analysis of covariance) were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that entrepreneurship training had a significant effect on social skills (p<0.05, F-11/012). Also, the findings showed that entrepreneurship education had a significant effect on the creativity of preschool children (p<0.05, F=11/224). As a result, by teaching entrepreneurship to preschool students, their social skills and creativity can be strengthened.
 
Keywords: Creativity, Entrepreneurship Education, Isfahan, Preschool Children, Social Skill.
Introduction
Today, in most countries, extensive efforts are being made to teach entrepreneurship to children; in some of these countries, entrepreneurship training is compulsory and in others it is offered to children in combination with different courses; Entrepreneurship training among children in Iran has recently received attention. Entrepreneurship is the result of a process that should be started from the beginning of childhood and gradually completed in higher periods. Entrepreneurship is an acquired process, and the best time to teach various entrepreneurial skills is during primary school education and before that. Creativity is the ability to sense issues, provide solutions and various hypotheses to solve problems, test these hypotheses, revise them and finally transfer them to other people. Social skills are an important ability that students need to be successful and happy in their daily lives at school, with their peers, and with their families. Developed social skills contribute to academic success and improved learning outcomes for students. Considering the importance of the topic, this article seeks to investigate the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education on creativity and social skills of preschool students.
Materials and methods
The research method was a quantitative and semi-experimental type of pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all preschool children aged 5-6 years in Isfahan city in 1402. 30 people were selected through available sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 people, test and control. In order to collect information, two questionnaires of Taki and Trend Research Institute's social skills (2014) and Torrance's creative thinking test (1990) were used. Torrance's test was used in both verbal and visual (non-verbal) forms and in two parallel forms "A" and "B". Reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha coefficient for social skill (0.82) and for creativity (0.83). To analyze the data obtained from the research questionnaires, two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics were used. At the level of descriptive statistics, table and chart of frequency and percentage of frequency, calculation of mean and standard deviation were used, and at the level of inferential statistics, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used. The results were done by Spss23 software. The entrepreneurship training package in this research, which was implemented during 11 sessions of 60 minutes, consists of: This training is in four general parts: a. Numerical and financial concepts, b. Acquaintance with jobs, c. Creativity, thinking and problem solving d. Self-confidence, self-awareness and self-concept, and in the form of various educational activities based on play, have been formulated as the most important educational method during preschool age.
Discussion
Regarding the first sub-hypothesis regarding the effect of entrepreneurship education on children's social skill, it was confirmed by using analysis of covariance test with pre-test control (p<0.05, F=11.012) and entrepreneurship education has a significant effect on preschool children's social skill.  Based on the effect coefficient (0.245), the difference between the two experimental and control groups in the scores related to the effect of entrepreneurship education on the social skills of preschool children was significant. Regarding the second hypothesis regarding the effect of entrepreneurship education on children's creativity, it was confirmed by using covariance analysis test with pre-test control (p<0.05, F=11.224) and entrepreneurship education showed a significant effect on preschool children's creativity. Based on the effect coefficient (0.248), the difference between the two experimental and control groups in the scores related to the effect of entrepreneurship education on the creativity of preschool children was significant.
Result
According to the findings, entrepreneurship education has an effect on the social skills and creativity of preschool children. The outcomes that children gain from learning entrepreneurship include: self-development or self-confidence, leadership, responsibility and self-reliance, motivation, communication skills with others in the business context, Problem solving skills and generalization of learning. According to the findings obtained in this research, it is suggested that teachers help children to identify their 5 important goals. To increase effectiveness and create a sense of success, teachers should make sure that children's goals have the five characteristics of being specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. In the next step, actions to reach the goals should be presented by children with the help of coaches. Try to put these goals in the classroom environment so that the children do the necessary activities to achieve them every day, and if the goals are achieved, the children will be rewarded.