Driving Question
(Teacher Guided, Student Constructed)
How can we design games that will assist others with identifying a variety of careers, possible emerging careers, the education required for career options, and the types of salaries that can be expected in each career?
Public Products
Students design games to be used by students who are exploring career options.
Connections
Foundations
Milestones
Milestone 1 (Day 1): Entry Event
Situation
Teachers in other states would like to have their students learn more about careers. Students design games that will assist others with identifying a variety of careers, possible emerging careers, the education required for career options, and the types of salaries that can be expected in each career.
Key Student Questions
- How can games help us remember or learn?
- What are possible game formats?
Formative Assessments
- List of Possible Game Formats
Materials
Instructional Procedures
- Begin by asking the students if they think games help them to remember or learn things. Ask for examples.
- Tell the students that teachers in other states would like to have their students learn more about careers. Ask the students if they think games could be designed to explore careers.
- Guide students to construct a question similar to, “How can we design games that will assist others with identifying a variety of careers, possible emerging careers, the education required for career options, and the types of salaries that can be expected in each career?”
- Divide the class into teams of two to four students.
- Inform the teams that they will be creating a game that helps other students (their same age) identify a variety of careers, possible emerging careers, the education required for career options, and the types of salaries that can be expected in each career in a specific pathway. As in all engineering/design projects, there are some limitations—time and resources.
- Tell students that they may create any type of game their group agrees upon provided that the only resources used are computer/internet tools, paper/poster board, index cards, sticky notes, and other office supplies. (If you do not have computer or internet access in your classroom, restrict students to games created with the other resources. It is possible to create board and card games online at a later date.)
- Brainstorm with students the possible game formats—online games, PowerPoint games, card games, board games, etc. For more ideas and links to game development tools, see the Career Gaming Resources. Let the students know they do not have the resources or time needed to create video games.
Comments (4)
Glad you were successful with the plan!
This was a really fun project for the students. I had the students take a career cluster inventory survey first and put the students in groups based on the results/interests. It took us an extra day to design the games and another day to evaluate (play) the games.
The link for the clusters and careers doesnt work.
The Association for Career and Technical Education has developed a list of 16 Career Clusters and 79 Career Pathways.
I linked to this instead https://www.schools.utah.gov/file/85c3adf5-d27e-4cf0-867e-1bb9bdad93e5
And to careeronestop and educationquest at https://www.educationquest.org/myeducationquest/reality-check/
The lesson plan refers to a daily game log several times. It would be helpful to provide link or source to this daily game log. Thanks!
Thank you for the message! The link to the ACTE Career Clusters and Pathways page has been updated and the Utah Career Cluster link for 2020-2021 has been added. The suggestion to use other careers sites has also been noted. As links change, just this reminder should help teachers consider other websites for information. The “game log” is journal Students should journal or log their progress. This clarification has been added to the PBL plan. Thank you for your comments! These changes will help all educators!