Exploring Careers in STEM Grade 7

Jog students’ memories of the topic/unit they just completed by naming various activities, examples, concepts, etc., discussed in class.

Provide each student with a copy of The Jobs People Do reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF].

Engage students in a think-pair-share to activate and build their knowledge about the careers or jobs related to the topic they have been studying in science. Have students use the reproducible for gathering their ideas.

Discussions

Prompt students for whole class sharing with such questions as:

• “Did your partner list any jobs you did not think of?”
• “Have you heard of this job before?”
• “Do you know of anyone who does this job in real life?”

Idea

If students find it difficult to think of an appropriate career or job, or if a limited number of jobs are suggested, supply some examples from your experience.

Ask for volunteers to verbally share their pair’s list with the class.

As students name the various jobs, record these on the board, chart paper or digitally. If possible, provide titles for jobs that were described (i.e., if a student said “this person checks how well you can hear sounds” you could add “audiologist” to the list). 

Language

You may wish to post the list of job titles in multiple languages. Additionally, you can provide images of people doing these jobs.

Tell students that in this part of this lesson they are going to look at some real jobs, related to a topic they have studied, and the people who do them.

Refer back to the list of jobs they came up with and point out that there are many types of jobs associated with the topic they have learned about. Some of these jobs are well known and often seen in movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. (e.g., when we think of people who work on a farm, we often think of the farmer). Some are less well known.

Provide each student with one of the Exploring Careers in STEM reproducibles.

Direct students to read the “What I do at work” and “How I affect peoples’ lives” sections of the career profiles. This will provide them with necessary information to complete Part 1 (the table).

After students have completed the table, ask for volunteers to share their thoughts on how the different jobs are related to the topic they are studying or the things they are doing in class. Where necessary, ask students to clarify their thoughts, perhaps by giving an example from the profile.

Technology

If students do not have access to internet-enabled devices, you could project the Let’s Talk Science career site on a screen and work through several profiles together as a class.

Alternatively, you could print off copies of the profiles for students to read. These could be posted in different locations or stations around the room with students moving from location to location.

Technology

If students are working from a hard copy of the reproducible, direct them to the Let’s Talk Science career resource and have them search for the worker’s name using the search box (top right).

Idea

Students could pair up to work on Part 1 of the activity.

When the table has been completed, direct students to complete Part 2. This should be done as an individual activity.

Upon completion, pair students and have partners take turns sharing items from their lists. Using the lists they created, students should discuss and select three skills or abilities they feel are most important for workers in this area.

Have each pair join with another pair to form a quad and share their top three skills or abilities. In their group, discuss the importance of these six skills and come to an agreement on the top two skills or abilities from their list.

Idea

This is a good opportunity to help students clarify what constitutes a job in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

When the quad groups have selected their two skills, lead a whole class discussion in which each group shares the skills or abilities they felt were most important. Ask students to explain why they chose the skills or abilities that they did.

As students present their group’s top two skills, record these on the board, chart paper or digitally. Using a show of hands, have students vote to create a class list of the top two skills for working in this area.

To conclude this part of the lesson, clarify with students that all the skills they listed are important. Which skills are most important will vary from job to job and even situation to situation. The important thing is that they do their best to develop a well-rounded set of skills that they can draw from as they progress through school and enter the workforce. Explore and discuss any questions or comments students may have.

Discussions

Discussion prompts can include:

• “What skills or abilities do you think are most important to work in this area? Explain.”
• “Do the skills and abilities also apply to the jobs you listed at the opening of this lesson? Which ones?”
• “Did any of the skills or abilities listed surprise you? Explain.”

To conclude, have students complete the Exploring Careers in STEM Exit Slip reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF].