STEM Career Exploration in Middle School

This middle school teacher's science elective begins with STEM career discovery.

Career Exploration in Middle School

Soni McClelland teaches 8th-grade science and a STEM elective at Charleroi Area Middle School in Pennsylvania. A new group of students comes through her science lab every nine weeks, and their first project is a career unit. This is the third year Soni has used the Career Discovery Tool with students. "I try to conect real life to the science we are currently learning," she says. "I think at the 8th-grade level, it is important to expose the students to what is out there."

Building STEM Career Awareness

We followed up with Soni about her experience using the Career Discovery Tool in the classroom and the importance of career-path exposure for middle school students.

How are you using the Career Discovery Tool with students?

"The students set up their accounts and take the survey. We share results, and I print out the materials on the site for them to begin their research. I have them briefly research their top three results, and then they choose which one they would like to fully research. They either make a Google Slides presentation, a brochure, or a poster about their top career choice, and present it to the class."

How have things gone? Have any students been surprised by the careers the tool indicates might be a good match or surprised to learn about different educational pathways?

"The students I have used this tool with enjoyed it. They discovered careers they did not know existed and seemed interested in the project. At the 8th-grade level, most of them have no idea what they want to do when they grow up, so I think this is a nice chance to show them the science careers out there that they may be interested in looking into in the future."

What do you think the benefit of using the Career Discovery Tool has been for students?

"I think it has exposed them to new and interesting careers they would not have seen anywhere else. They have a career project they do with the school counselors, but it is general. This one is science-based. I think a lot of kids have the idea, "I can't do science." Or "I'm not good at science." This gives them the chance to see that there are opportunities out there that are related to science. They just may not have heard of them yet."

Did you try the survey tool yourself? How did that go?

"Yes! I always try everything out before I give it to my students. When I did the survey, my top three were the careers I was interested in when I started college: biology teacher, meteorologist, and marine biologist. The fact that it matched me so well surprised me, and it was nice to show the kids how my results matched my personality and interests."

Do you plan to use the Career Discovery Tool again next year?

"I plan to use it next year and continue as long as possible. I truly think students having the chance to research such a wide variety of careers is a wonderful learning opportunity."

Thank you to Soni for sharing this story with Science Buddies. If you have a story about a Science Buddies project or about how Science Buddies makes a difference in your classroom or program, reach out to us at [email protected].