The effectiveness of a program based on differentiated instruction strategies to develop entrepreneurial skills among students

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of a program based on Differentiated Instruction (DI) in developing entrepreneurial skills among third-grade female students. A quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups was used to achieve this objective. The study sample consisted of 60 randomly selected students: 30 students in the experimental group and 30 students in the control group. The study tools included a DI-based program of 15 sessions with three sessions dedicated to each skill (planning, decision-making, team management, innovation and responsibility) for the experimental group. In addition, an entrepreneurial skills test comprising 25 items distributed across five main skills was used. The study results show statistically significant differences at 0.05 between the mean scores of the students in the entrepreneurial skills test in favor of the experimental group after calculating the validity, reliability, difficulty, and discrimination indices. This result indicates the program's effectiveness in developing entrepreneurial skills among third-grade female students. The study recommends the inclusion of entrepreneurial skills in the curricula of the early grades in elementary education and the employment of DI strategies in the educational process. The findings highlight the potential for early introduction of entrepreneurial education and provide actionable recommendations for integrating such skills into elementary curricula.