STEM Careers Boom Box iPod

Resource for Grades 6-12
| Citation

STEM Careers Boom Box iPod

Media Type:
Video

Running Time: 0m 15s
Size: 823.1 KB

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Resource Produced by:

WPSU

Collection Developed by:

WPSU
Videos and the lesson plan were developed by faculty and staff at the Pennsylvania State University. Nathan Brown, math professor, Melissa Wilson, co-chair of Graduate Women in Science, and Betsy Hutton, producer/director at Penn State Public Broadcasting wrote and produced the spots, and Barbara Houtz, Eberly College of Science, wrote the lesson plan.

Collection Credits

Collection Funded by:

Collection was produced by WPSU's Educational Services in association with Penn State University's Eberly College of Science and funded by the Thematic Initiative Fund from the College of Education.

This brief video from WPSU compares technologies from yesterday with today. Yesterday a middle school boy would have rocked out to a boom box while today a boy the same age plugs in his iPod. The video suggests that science will bring us technologies of tomorrow.

Brainstorm ten objects that you use on a regular basis that your parents did not have when they were your age. Predict differences that may be seen within the next ten years for technology-based devices. Discuss how science and technology have transformed the way we communicate, are entertained and find out information.

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open Background Essay

Most elementary and middle school students harbor misconceptions about just what a scientist, technologist, engineer, mathematician (STEM) or other STEM related career person is like. A scientist is likely a white male with a lab coat and facial hair, according to a 1997 study of over 1500 students from 23 states, the District of Columbia and three other countries. Teachers can shatter this stereotype and address the lack of women and other traditionally underrepresented groups by serving as a source of career information about STEM fields. Information about STEM careers is offered by the Department of Labor, National Institutes of Health, American Medical Association, Vocational Information Center, NASA, and NOAA.

The time to foster a budding interest in choosing STEM careers is during middle and high school. A survey of STEM practitioners found that over a quarter of respondents started thinking about a career in STEM before the age of 11 and a further third between the ages of 12-14. Often, these interests fade in the face of significant obstacles. In addition to stereotypes of what STEM practitioners are like, and a lack of available career information, students enthusiastic about STEM careers must overcome a general dislike of traditional lecture-based math and science coursework that begins in upper elementary grades and continues through secondary education.

Students in middle and high school are often drawn to highly visible professions in the entertainment and sports fields, though their chances of a landing a job in these fields at an income level that can sustain them are very slim. Teachers can help put pursuit of entertainment and sports careers in perspective by encouraging students to research facts about these fields in contrast to STEM occupations.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook lists the following significant points for actors: long periods of unemployment, intense competition for roles, and frequent rejections in auditions. Earnings can be erratic, forcing many actors to supplement their income with jobs in other fields. Very few actors become highly successful with extraordinarily high earnings.

The NFL reports that 215 of the 100,000 high school seniors who play football (0.2%) will ever make an NFL roster; 40 of 5,000,000 or 0.00008% of high school boys playing basketball will become an NBA basketball player.

Given these odds, students may want to consider the following. Is it more likely that a classmate will become a pro athlete or television or movie star, or that he or she will become a scientist, technologist, engineer or mathematician who helps work on a new technology that will improve people’s lives?

To meet some graduate students who believe passionately in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers, watch STEM Careers Grad Students.

To meet some middle school students dreaming of designing everything from awesome robots to solar cars, watch STEM Careers Middle School.

To compare yesterday's technologies with today's, check out this series of brief videos:

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open Discussion Questions

  • How have science and technology transformed how we communicate, are entertained, and find out information?
  • In small groups, have students generate up to 10 objects they use on a regular basis that their parents did not have when they were the same age as the students.
  • Create a master list of these objects on the board and discuss why these items are useful and what life would be like without them.
  • Pick five of the 10 items and describe what each of them might look like or be capable of doing 10 years into the future.
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