Nike Founder Lessons About Ideas and Teamwork
A promising idea needs reasons behind it and people who can help. These two lessons use the story of Nike co-founder Phil Knight to help students in grades 3–6 explain a business idea and think carefully about teamwork. Students practice making a case, listening to others, and choosing useful project roles.
- Grades 3–6
- Two lessons
- 45–60 minutes per lesson
- Designed for groups of 3–4 students
Build a case for an idea
In Testing Your Big Idea, students develop a product or service idea and consider what supports it. What do they know from experience? What could research help them understand? The worksheet helps teams organize their reasons before presenting a persuasive pitch.
The lesson connects Phil Knight’s early business thinking with a question students can use themselves: Why might this idea work? Allow 45–60 minutes.
Put different strengths to work
Stronger Together introduces the partnership between Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Teams then plan a mock class presentation, identify the jobs it needs, and connect those roles with their classmates’ strengths.
Students also discuss how they will support one another. The result is a team plan they can explain, with responsibilities that contribute to a shared project. Allow 45–60 minutes.
What to prepare
Both lessons use a whiteboard or chart paper, pencils, and a printed worksheet for each group of 3–4 students. Print the idea-testing worksheet for the first lesson and the team-planning worksheet for the second.
What students will practice
- Supporting a proposal with reasons
- Turning group discussion into a clear pitch
- Recognizing different skills within a team
- Agreeing on roles and ways to support one another
Connect speaking and writing
The pack also provides book discussion questions and writing prompts. Use the activities to start a conversation about a founder’s choices, then give students time to explain their own thinking in writing.
Get the free classroom activity packs
Visit the educator page to request the LEGO and Nike founder activity packs through the signup form.
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