Business ownership is one of the most common units taught in business courses. Rightfully so, because it’s the building block for all businesses. Whether you’re teaching Introduction to Business, Business Essentials, Entrepreneurship, or Business Management, among others, this unit will engage your students and add some variety to your lessons.
Forms of Business Ownership Graphic Organizer Sorting and Research Activity
This activity is great for visual learners because students can see the concepts come to life as they sort the characteristics of business ownership. Students cut and paste in the print format or drag and drop in the digital version. Next, students will research examples of familiar businesses for each form of business ownership.
Business Ownership Discussion Question Chat Stations
Have you tried a gallery walk or chat station activity? Movement in the classroom is not for everyone, but personally, I love to get students out of their seats for an activity. I think it’s a great way to add variety to your lesson while avoiding the blank stare.
For this activity, students move around the room to respond to 10 open-ended discussion questions on forms of business ownership. After the activity, discuss student responses with the provided discussion guide.
If you’re not into movement in the classroom, this resource also contains an option for digital implementation.
Online Store Partnership Agreement
Integrate writing into your business course with this partnership agreement project. A series of guided prompts will help students think through the inner workings of a partnership without trying to copy and paste information from the Internet. Students use the premise of starting an online store with a classmate to compose a partnership agreement.
Corporation Guided Research Project
While sole proprietorships are the most common form of business ownership in the United States, corporations are the most well-known.
Harness student interest with this research project. High school students will research publicly traded corporations. They will start by selecting a corporation (sample list provided) and research the background, offerings, marketing, and other important aspects of a corporation.
Franchise Scavenger Hunt & Research Activity
Your students will set on a web quest to answer 11 questions that develop basic franchise vocabulary knowledge and explore interesting facts about franchises.
After students conduct the Internet scavenger hunt they will select 3 franchised businesses to examine for costs and benefits. Students will then select 1 to pitch to a group or class. Each member of the group or class will then select 1 of those presented that they believe would be the best opportunity and answer the reflection question rationalizing their choice.
Fun Business Ownership Escape Room
Increase engagement in your business structures lesson with this fun, escape room activity. This activity covers types of business ownership (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, nonprofit, franchise, and cooperative), advantages/disadvantages for types of business ownership, partnership agreement, franchise costs, and stock symbols. This resource promotes collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving as students work to solve 5 locks and escape.
No physical locks are needed to complete this activity. This product includes a digital and printable version for flexibility. The digital version is post-and-go with no prep. The printable version requires you to set up the activity but will get your students out of their seats for an interactive experience.
In this challenging, 5-lock activity with 22 clues students will escape to “get paid”. A detailed teacher guide is included with the answers to each clue. When students finish or “escape” I like to provide extra credit or a small prize to those who finish first. For example, the first 3 groups to escape get a few points extra credit on the next test and all students who escape get a sticker. Not all high school students are motivated by a sticker, but some absolutely love it.
Business Girl Education 