CareerStart
CareerStart is a program that aims to help students make connections between the academic curriculum and future careers, created by a partnership among the Schools of Education and Social Work at UNC - Chapel Hill, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school district, and the Piedmont Triad Council of Government.
CareerStart offers collections of lessons in which core subjects (English language arts, math, science, and social studies) are taught using illustrations from real jobs, enabling students to understand how course content is applied outside the classroom. Through a partnership with LEARN NC, CareerStart has made these mini-lessons available via the LEARN NC website.
For an article that more thoroughly describes the program and shares some of the research that illustrates its effectiveness, see “CareerStart: A Proven Approach to Middle-School Success.”
CareerStart lesson plan collections
- CareerStart lessons: Grade 6
- This collection of lessons aligns the sixth grade curriculum in math, science, English language arts, and social studies with potential career opportunities.
- CareerStart lessons: Grade 7
- This collection of lessons aligns the seventh grade curriculum in math, science, English language arts, and social studies with potential career opportunities.
- CareerStart lessons: Grade 8
- This collection of lessons aligns the eighth grade curriculum in math, science, English language arts, and social studies with potential career opportunities.
Resources provided by CareerStart
Records 21–40 of 132 displayed: go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- Careers in travel: Working with currency exchange
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 4.5
- In this lesson for grades six and seven, students will learn about foreign currency exchange rates and will understand the importance of currency exchange in the travel industry.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 Social Studies)
- By Mandy Matlock.
- CareerStart: A proven approach to middle-school success
- CareerStart is a program for infusing career relevance into the core curriculums in middle schools. This article describes the program and shares some of the research that illustrates its effectiveness.
- Format: article
- By Dennis Orthner, Ph.D..
- Cause and effect in the workplace
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.10
- This lesson for grade 6 will help students understand cause and effect and how these concepts apply to the workplace.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.
- Cell theory and plant respiration
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 5.4
- In this lesson, students conduct an experiment using plants to gain an understanding on the effects of sunlight on cell processes.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6 and 8 Science)
- By Tammy Johnson and Martha Tedrow.
- China's ancient engineers
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 4.6
- In this lesson for grade seven, students will learn about some of the inventions of ancient China, and will discuss the kinds of engineering skills required to produce them.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 Social Studies)
- By Meredith Ebert.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
- Chuck Yeager and technological design
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 3.2
- Chuck Yeager's career in aviation spans over 60 years and includes such notable feats as becoming the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. This lesson for grade 6 introduces students to Yeager's accomplishments and to careers in aviation.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Guidance)
- By April Galloway and Christine Scott.
- College collage
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 3.10
- In this lesson for grade seven, students brainstorm careers in the sciences and research local colleges that offer degrees in those fields.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Guidance and Science)
- By John Boyd.Adapted by Mitzi Talbert.
- Commercial and industrial designers: Working with volume
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 3.7
- In this lesson, students calculate the volume of a variety of boxes, and calculate the change in volume that would result from a change in the boxes' dimensions.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 Mathematics)
- By Valerie Davis, Sonya Rexrode, and Monika Vasili.
- Comparing and contrasting careers
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.9
- This lesson for grade six will help students understand comparing and contrasting. Students will conduct career surveys with adults and will use the results to create Venn diagrams.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.
- Comparing resumés
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.1
- In this lesson plan, students will work in groups, acting as hiring committees for a college newspaper staff. Students will use two candidates' resumés to determine which applicant is the best fit for the job.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
- Comparing the New Deal with the 2009 Recovery Act
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 6.9
- In this lesson plan, students learn about the programs enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the New Deal, as well as the programs enacted by Barack Obama during the 2009 Recovery Act. Students compare and contrast the programs.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Andrea Stewart, Keisha Gabriel, and Patty Grant.
- Couriers and messengers: Real-world problem solving
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 3.4
- In this lesson plan, students take on the role of couriers and use indirect measurement to plan a delivery.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 Mathematics)
- By Valerie Davis, Sonya Rexrode, and Monika Vasili.
- Customer service jobs: Building skills for the future
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.9
- In this lesson for grade seven, students will research customer service jobs and determine what skills translate to good customer service. The lesson will conclude with a discussion of how these skills might apply in future careers.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
- By Jen Presley.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
- Dear Juana: Editing a letter
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.3
- In this lesson for grade seven, students will discuss the importance of proofreading and editing in various careers. The teacher will model proofreading and editing a sample letter, and then the students will write and peer-edit their own letters.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Anissia Jenkins.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
- Decisions, decisions: A career exploration
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.10
- In this lesson for grade seven, students complete personality profiles to explore career options, then conduct internet research to learn about specific careers. Students write evaluative essays about the careers they choose.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Jen Presley.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
- Defining career vocabulary
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.6
- In this lesson, students learn vocabulary terms associated with careers.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts)
- By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
- Details and sequencing
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.7
- This lesson for grade six will introduce students to careers in environmental protection as it teaches them to identify details and sequence in a non-fiction reading passage.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.
- Determining the author's purpose: Analyzing a recruitment video
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.10
- In this lesson plan, students analyze a video about ROTC to determine why the video was created.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
- By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
- Eco-tourism in the Outer Banks
- In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 3.10
- In this lesson, students will learn about the effects of tourists on the delicate ecosystems of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Students will explore careers related to tourism and will attempt to solve tourism/erosion problems in the Outer Banks from a career-based perspective.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 5–6 Guidance and Science)
- By April Galloway and Christine Scott.
- Eco-tourism in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
- Written to accompany a sixth-grade science lesson, this article describes the ecology of North Carolina's Outer Banks and discusses the effects of tourism on the region's delicate ecosystems.
- Format: article
- By April Galloway and Christine Scott.
