Approach

Context

This learning situation, aimed at 4th-year ESO students, brings the world of business closer to everyday reality, helping students understand its role in generating added value, employment and economic development. Through the analysis of business activity and its relationship with the surrounding environment, students will discover how companies contribute to social and economic progress.

The proposal also promotes creativity, innovation, critical thinking and decision-making, incorporating principles of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. As a result, students will work on designing business models capable of providing value to society and responding to the challenges of today’s environment.

Intended objective

The activities proposed in this learning situation are primarily intended to immerse students in the business world through the creation of a company. Although the proposal developed here consists of creating a natural soap factory, another possibility is to ask students to design their own business, thereby encouraging creativity. Both proposals are compatible with multidisciplinary work, as students must integrate basic knowledge, skills and attitudes from different subjects, directly addressing the concept of competency-based learning and real-world problem solving.

Sequence of activities

To address this Learning Situation, we propose two methodological pathways. Both begin with the Motivation phase and the completion of the first two activities. Once these have been completed, one of the following options can be chosen:

1. Guided pathway: Continue with Activities 3 to 6 so that students develop all phases of business design in a structured way.
2. Condensed pathway: Use the linked document as a «Business Feasibility Plan», which summarises the work from these activities in a single format.

Both options culminate in Activity 7, in which students will present and promote their business proposal to the rest of the class. Optionally, students may also be asked to submit a portfolio containing all the material produced, as indicated in Activity 8.

Learning and methodology

Students, organised into collaborative teams, must explore each stage of the process of creating a company, investigating its feasibility within their environment and considering the human and material resources required. They will assess its potential as a business and the impact it will have on the surrounding area, both environmentally and socially through job creation. Taking soap production as an example, students will analyse the profitability of producing soap from recycled oils, considering the collection process, the selection of other ingredients and the packaging of the final product. Along the way, we will learn about essential chemical reactions such as saponification and understand the importance of quality and safety in the soap industry.