Chances are your middle school students are already talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Without firsthand knowledge of careers, they may not be aware of the role science plays in highly desirable and interesting fields. The resources described below will give middle schoolers a preview of diverse careers that require some background in science. Along with a new appreciation of their current work in the science classroom, students may also decide to get a firm grounding in science in their high school years.

LifeWorks: Explore Health and Medical Science Careers
The National Institute of Health sponsors this career-exploration web site for middle school and high school students. Students can browse for information on more than 100 medical science and health careers. They will also find the stories of real workers in the fields, including a forensic science technician, a prosthetist, and a high school biology teacher. A career-finder feature will generate a list of careers matching the user’s interests.

The Fun Works … for Careers You Never Knew Existed
This web site designed for middle school students provides links to career exploration resources, with an emphasis on careers involving mathematics and science. Students can take a brief quiz to help them determine which of the many job groups they might look at first. Each job title has three to 20 links to related resources, including interviews with workers and background information on specific career fields.

So What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up? Web Activity
A page from the NASA SCIence Files gives a procedure for doing a research project on careers in mathematics, science, and technology.

Science and Technology Jobs
From GirlPower, the web site for 9-13 year olds, this page of “cool jobs” includes information about occupations in aviation, computer science, chemistry, health-related fields, and more. The most recent addition to the list is forensic science expert.

Ideas for Integrating Women of NASA into Your Curriculum
NASA provides ideas for lessons in different subjects and at different grade levels based on the Women of NASA project. Included are research projects, role-playing, online chats with a mentor, and design and production of mission patches.

We Need Your Help

We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and observations. What would you like to know more about? What questions have your students asked? We invite you to share with us and other readers by posting your comments. Please check back often for our newest posts or download the RSS feed for this blog. You can also request email notification when new content is posted (see right navigation bar).

Let us know what you think and tell us how we can serve you better. We want your feedback on all of the NSDL Middle School Portal publications. Email us at msp@msteacher.org.