Beyond traditional PBL: how design practices shape entrepreneurship learning

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has become a widely adopted pedagogical approach in entrepreneurship education, due to its ability to engage students in real-world challenges and experiential learning processes. However, despite its diffusion, existing literature highlights that PBL alone does not always lead to the development of entrepreneurial competencies, often resulting in uneven learning outcomes. This raises a critical question: what makes PBL truly effective in fostering entrepreneurial thinking? This paper argues that design practices play a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness of PBL in entrepreneurship education. Rather than considering design as an additional content layer, the study conceptualizes it as a set of practices that fundamentally reshape how students engage with projects, problems, and decision-making processes. The research adopts an exploratory qualitative approach based on the “Design Startup” course developed at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano. The course integrates design methodologies, business tools, and project-based learning within a single educational experience. Data were collected through a survey administered to 68 students, combining Likert-scale evaluations and open-ended responses, alongside direct observation of project development activities. Findings identify four key mechanisms through which design practices enhance PBL for entrepreneurship education. First, design enables problem framing and reframing, shifting students from solving predefined tasks to identifying and constructing opportunities. Second, a strong user-centered approach supports the development of more grounded and meaningful value propositions. Third, iterative prototyping fosters a learning process based on experimentation, feedback, and continuous refinement. Finally, design practices expose students to ambiguity and uncertainty, strengthening their ability to make decisions in conditions that closely resemble real entrepreneurial contexts. These mechanisms suggest that design transforms PBL from a project execution format into a deeper learning environment that supports the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. The study contributes to both theory and practice by clarifying how design can act as a catalyst within PBL, offering actionable insights for educators aiming to design more effective entrepreneurship education experiences.