Playful learning as a pedagogical method in entrepreneurship education

This chapter investigates the potential of playful approaches in teaching and learning in higher education, with a particular interest in entrepreneurship education and young adult learners. How might playful learning as a pedagogical method support the development of students’ entrepreneurship competencies? We address this question by providing examples of ways in which playful learning might be implemented through playful approaches and three major components of invitations to play ‒ atmosphere, physical space, and materials. This chapter introduces student-centered learning design and tools for playful learning to build a culture that exposes students to entrepreneurial competencies. Since entrepreneurship competencies (Bacigalupo et al., 2016) and play competencies share several similarities and counterparts, it indicates that by employing playful approaches in university pedagogy, it is possible to support not only play and related skills but also entrepreneurship competencies. Building entrepreneurship competencies is imperative as they are seen as drivers of transformation, innovation, and growth in nations.