Summary
Students participate in a session about careers related to gaming and technology. Students first brainstorm what they love about gaming and technology and the skills needed for success. Next students analyze job postings for careers related to gaming and technology, then connect careers in these areas to career clusters and look for connections to the job postings and skills needed for jobs in gaming and technology industries. Learning is summarized by comparing their old knowledge about careers in the gaming and technology industries to their new knowledge.
Essential Questions
What career opportunities related to gaming and technology are available?
Learning Goals
Identify professions related to gaming and technology industries.
Make connections between career-specific academic requirements, qualifications, and skills.
Materials List
Career Exploration Slides (attached)
Career Exploration Job Postings handout (attached)
Gaming and Technology Careers Poster
Large sticky chart paper
Poster markers
Sticky notes
Engage
5 Minute(s)
Use the attached Career Exploration Slides to guide the session. Display slide 3 and introduce the essential question:
What career opportunities related to gaming and technology are available?
Move to slide 4 and introduce students to the Collective Brain Dump strategy. Tell students to think about the question, "What do you love gaming and technology?". Have students share their responses and as they share, write down responses on poster board or Google Doc.
Next, have students think about the question, "What kinds of skills are related to what you enjoy about gaming and using technology?" and have students share their thoughts while writing down responses on poster board or Google Doc. Tell students to keep the skills they have shared in mind as they move through the activity.
Explore
8 Minute(s)
Pass out one job posting from the attached Career Exploration Job Postings handout to students. Move to slide 5 and provide time for students to look at the sample job postings that are related to the gaming and technology industries. Encourage students to work in pairs to highlight or underline:
Academic qualifications
Specific experience required
Strengths or qualities that stand out
Remind students to look for the skills they have already identified as they review the job postings. Ask for volunteers to share the needed skills and experience that they notice. Have students talk to a partner about the questions they have after reviewing the job postings and ask for students to share those questions. Have a discussion about how skills the students are practicing by playing games and/or using technology transfer to careers.
Explain
5 Minute(s)
Move to slide 6 and introduce students to the Gaming and Technology Careers Poster. Draw attention to the overarching career clusters on the poster and the specific careers that fall into each career cluster. Provide a couple of minutes for students to examine the poster. Students will be asked to share connections they are finding from their job posting exploration, skills brainstorming, and any questions they have related to the information on the poster.
Extend
8 Minute(s)
Using the Gallery Walk strategy, tell students to move around the room and chart where job skills fall within the career clusters that have been discussed. Have students talk to an elbow partner about what jobs they find most interesting and what skills are needed for those jobs. Ask for volunteers to share their thoughts.
Evaluate
5 Minute(s)
Provide each student with two sticky notes. Move to slide 8 and introduce students to the I Used to Think, But Now I Know strategy. On the first sticky note, have students write "I Used to Think" followed by one sentence they knew about gaming and technology-related careers prior to attending the session. On the second sticky note, have students write "But Now I Know" followed by something they have learned during the session. Tell students to place their sticky notes on large poster paper as they leave the session.
Follow-Up Activities
For other sessions related to gaming and technology, consider the Broadcasting and Commentary in Technology and Gaming and College Gaming resources. (Update with correct published link/titles please)
Research Rationale
Students who attend college after graduation and complete a four-year degree enjoy greater job satisfaction and better quality of life post-graduation, and college graduates have significantly better opportunities for upward career mobility and earning a living wage (Okerson, 2016). Studies have shown that adolescents experience different barriers in career development, dependent on location, that may lead to higher rates of unemployment (Turner & Conkel, 2010). By making resources and support accessible to students at school, educators can lessen the future wage and job opportunity gaps for the generation of students they teach (Turner & Conkel, 2010).
Resources
File:desktop computer clipart - yellow theme.svg. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desktop_computer_clipart_-_Yellow_theme.svg
K20 Center. (n.d.). Collective Brain Dump. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/111
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery Walk/Carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). I Used to Think, but Now I Know. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/137
Okerson, J. R. (2016). Beyond the campus tour: College choice and the
campus visit (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://publish.wm.edu/
Turner, S. L., & Conkel, J. L. (2010). Evaluation of a career development skills intervention with adolescents living in an inner city. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88(4), 457-465.
