6th graders and their future career ideas....from the wacky to the realistic

What do 6^th graders want to be when they grow up?

With only 11 days of school left, I always try to end the year with some sort of project.

So, in my STEM class we have two different projects going on at once.

One project involves the kids building mechanisms and working in teams to solve a survival challenge.

The other project is part of their warm-up. All year they have been working on an E-Portfolio. They take their best work, pictures,  writing reflections and add them to their E-Portfolio. For the next week, they will be answering questions and adding the topics of their choosing (based on my parameters) to their E-Portfolios.

What has been very interesting to me has been the “Future Career” topic. I love walking around my room to see what they want to be when they grow up.

I have several who want to be comedians, one very quiet girl who wants to be a Rock Star, a bartender, a few teachers, quite a few who want to be professional athletes, and then the rest want to go into STEM fields.

Sure, I teach a STEM class—but I was pretty impressed with the ranges of STEM careers that these 6^th graders want to be. From Biomedical Scientists, Chemists, Petroleum Engineers, Marine Biologists and Neonatologists—I have to say I am pretty impressed with their thoughts.

I really have only covered a few of those STEM fields, so I can’t take credit for anything.

It makes me think—if only we exposed more kids to STEM fields in 6^th grade (or younger)—could we solve the STEM shortage?

Obviously, these students have some time to change their minds, but, it is my hope that they won’t.

But, maybe I can try to convince those wanna-be comedians and athletes to have a backup plan? Just in case....