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Classroom posters for Why a career in science is for me
Background
How do you encourage those students who really do like science but cannot see themselves in a science-based career? Many students struggle to think of more than a handful of scientific careers so this new animation from the Royal Society, aimed at students aged 11 to 16, aims to demonstrate the wealth of scientific subjects that can be accessed beyond school and the excitement that a career in science can bring. By having a positive impact on the challenges that face our society, a career in science can bring job satisfaction and opportunities for travel and global collaboration. Of course, we are talking about science in the wider sense, so the animation lists mathematics and computing as 'core' science subjects studied in school alongside chemistry, biology and physics. The animation aims to demonstrate that it is not just the facts that students learn in lessons that are important for future scientists, but also those other skills that students develop in investigative work both in lessons and in extracurricular opportunities.
Feedback from teachers
A small group of primary and secondary teachers were shown this animation and asked to provide some feedback. Their comments are shown below and may help other teachers to plan how this resource can be used in their lessons:
- Good that it mentions 'harnessing imagination' as that might be overlooked as an asset in a science career.
- Essential to mention 'careers that don’t exist yet' - liking that. And important that teamwork and collaboration have been mentioned too because I’d say it’s more likely that future advances will be the result of teamwork rather than individual eureka moments.
- "In school you learn lots of facts, but science is about how you think too…". Sounds like you’re saying, in school you don’t learn how to think and are just stuffed with facts.
- My first impression was that this was for those interested in a career in science who would go on to study at university and then PhD level. There didn’t seem to be many examples of careers in science for non-graduates.
- This is FAB. I particularly think the way it takes you through the STEM disciplines but then talks about where they can lead, the extra ideas beyond investigations and knowledge about creativity, critical thinking adds to that. The last minute of the video is super, how it draws into travelling and changing jobs/ roles and then closes with the reminder about gender, ethnic diversity etc.
- Thanks again for making the science capital and aspirational ideas so easy to put across to the children.
- I absolutely love the new animation and cannot wait to be able to share it with my pupils. I can see us using this to spark discussion about how we use science skills in other subjects, some obvious such as maths but other not so – creative skills was a great one to get in there.
- I love the analogy of the doors leading on from one another to show the careers and also speaking about how they may be taking on careers that do not exist as yet.
- The animation will form part of our careers in science package – we have at least one career in science linked to every science unit taught from nursery to Year 8 to help pupils have a sense of how wide the career opportunities are in the world of science.
- I will be asking for it to be displayed via our school screens around the building to inspire the pupils about the world of science careers.
- You cover a great range of possible careers from environmental to technological.