Career Connection Overview

Detailed instructions for teaching the videos in this manner can be viewed in two locations: 1) the Career Connection Tab of each of the modules' lesson plans and, 2) in an overview page linked from the module's unit plan.

Thus far, we have integrated Career Connected Activities into our Observing Beyond our Senses (OBOS) module. Next, we will integrate activities into each of our modules. In the OBOS module, the major part of the work students will do consists of interviewing. They'll interview each other, serving as both interviewer and interviewee, conduct self-assessments, use our short videos, and prepare, record, and present their own interviews. Hopefully, they'll have an opportunity to hear from a guest speaker, and/or conduct interviews with adult professionals they have access to. Within each module, you will notice there are both common and unique themes throughout the Career Connected Activities.

Our new "Systems Are Everywhere" module is a draft that we are currently field-testing. This module is written for high school students for use in any setting and is made up of three lessons that serve to foster students’ understanding of systems and systems thinking. Blended throughout the lesson are career connections that will introduce students to diverse systems thinkers in STEM, and provide context for how systems approaches are used in real-life to address complex problems. You can access the Unit Plan, Lesson Plans and all materials through the module pages.

During class time or as homework, you can integrate these short videos as enrichment opportunities. To start, students would need to watch one or more of the videos. You could do this as an entire class. Options might be as a warm up at the beginning of a class period, as an introduction to a particular lesson, a way to wrap up a class that has its primary work finished, or as a way to break up a 2nd or 3rd day of data collection with something different. Or simply assign the videos to be watched outside of class time. This is a great option for ONLINE, DISTANT learning.

We've written a one-page question sheet for each video, which should help provide structure to the experience of watching each video. If you do not want to use this worksheet, but instead want to encourage student discourse, we recommend having students repeatedly consider and discuss questions such as those listed below (which are also integrated into the question sheets).

For each of the videos, discussion can build on these questions:

General Questions:

• Who is interested in this problem?
• What kinds of jobs and careers are involved with this problem?
• What education and work experiences are involved with this problem?
• Do I have skills and interests that could be involved with this problem?
• What am I interested in? How could I pursue that interest?
• How can I make myself ready for a job that might not even exist right now?
• How does a young person's interests lead to a career?
• What kinds of education are students getting that looks like it might not be directly related to a job?

General Questions on the Person Featured in the Video:

• What education does this person have?
• Did their long-ago plans lead directly to the job they have now?
• How is this person a “Systems Thinker'?
• How does “Systems Thinking” add to their ability to contribute?

Here are a few ways you can structure discussion around any of the videos and/or any of the above questions:

• Quick one question writing prompt. 5 minutes of writing. Share to class.
• Group/table 3 minute brainstorm on one question. Share to class.
• What questions would you like to ask this person? Role play an interview.
• What do you picture doing 10 years from now? Would this person be useful on your team? Role play a development committee in charge of company strategy & expansion.