Didactic Reconstruction: Students’ Beliefs about Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting

Abstract

Students’ beliefs in economic content are often taken into account in lesson planning, e.g., in order to design learning situations in the sense of active and problem-based learning. Within higher education, however, students’ beliefs often play a subordinate role. Empirical findings, however, make it clear that students have a number of preconceptions that are inadequate for the solution of economic problems. Against this background, the relevance of the approach of didactic reconstruction in the field of economics is discussed in this article. To highlight the importance of students’ (pre-)conceptions, the results of a questionnaire study are presented which aims to record the beliefs of economics students regarding the content of entrepreneurial thinking and action. Based on the study results, it will be shown how students’ beliefs can be incorporated into higher ed-ucation in order to initiate a holistic understanding of economic concepts.