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Careers in chemistry - What’s your Future with Chemistry?

Chemistry seldom makes the top 10 list of glamorous careers. But for people with inquisitive minds who are creative, persistent, interested in solving problems, think independently, work well with details, have keen powers of observation, and follow logical paths of reasoning, chemistry offers challenging and quite fulfilling career opportunities.

This year you have gained a great deal of knowledge of the concepts of Chemistry, now it is time to discover how they may be used in our society. Therefore, each student will develop a double-sided tri-fold brochure describing a selected career in a chemistry related field. Your job is to research one of the following careers related to chemistry and then sell it to your fellow classmates!

Analytical chemist / Research scientist—analytical / Forensic chemist
Biochemist / Chemical plant operator / Textile & fabrics chemist
Chemical engineer / Research scientist—synthetic / Nuclear chemist
Research scientist—discovery / Cosmetic chemist / Inorganic chemist
Organic chemist / Food chemist / Doctor
Toxicologist / Pediatric infectious disease / Teacher
Medicinal chemist / Computational chemist / Environmental chemist
Pharmacist / Water management / Veterinary science
Laboratory technician / Agriculture chemist / Hazardous waste specialist
Materials scientist

* Other of your choice (please ask me if you are going to research a career not listed here)

Research project timeline:

Teacher Initials / Checkpoint / Due Date
Career in chemistry: Submit the career you will be researching / Friday, May 30th
Research (20pts): Compile notes from your research organized into the provided graphic organizers, index cards or other research method. / Due Monday, June 2rd
Brochure (50pts): Create a visually appealing brochure that addresses the career questions. / Due Monday, June 9th
Oral Presentation (30pts):Present your career as if you were at a career tradeshow / Week of June 9th

Chemistry Project Guidelines

Topic Choice:

Choose one of the topic questions provided or submit your own question that you’ve always wondered about!

Research: (20pts)

First, research different career paths within the field of chemistry

After selecting your career field, you will use the internet and other resources to complete your research.

Use the questions provided in this packet to guide your research.

Be sure to put your research into your OWN words – this will probably be the hardest part of this project! Plagiarism will not be accepted!

Be sure to use at three sources

Organize your research!

Brochure: (50 pts)

Design and create a 8 ½ x 11double sided tri-fold brochure that describes your chemistry career. Your goal is to make this pamphlet creative, informative, neat, and interesting. You will present your brochure and chemistry career to the class on the due date.

Use Microsoft office’s tri-fold business templates to help and follow the sample layout for the order and placement of the sections.

The brochure should also include the career title, student identification section, and a bibliography with a minimum of 3 sources. The bibliography should follow MLA format

The project will be graded on the completeness as well as creativity and quality of the brochure. A minimum of 3 graphics should be used in the brochure’s layout. It should be colorful, eye-catching, and easy to read.

Oral Presentation: (30pts)

Your oral presentation should be 2-3 minutes and should coordinate with the handout you are providing to the class. See rubric for guidelines.

You should present your report as if you were currently employed in the career you research and are recruiting students at a career fair.

Don’t be shy and dress and act the part! Try to make your presentation compelling and fun!

Where should I start?

1. Pick a career.

This link brings you to three sections to explore: careers in chemistry, career profiles, chemical technician careers. You should explore them all.

2. Use the following sections and questions to guide you in finding good, useful information about your topic. You then must organize your research into a compellingbrochure to present to the rest of the class! As you research your career, keep in mind that you must include the following information: (along with anything else you may find interesting about that career)

1) Job Description

  • Description of career chosen. (Includes what they do and where they would work.)
  • Highlights of this career.

2) Workplace

  • What does a typical day in this job look like?
  • Describe the working conditions, including any hazards.

3) Education

  • What are some of the personal characteristics that an employer may want from someone in the field?
  • Provide information on the educational background one would need to pursue the career. (What major would one need, what college courses and or classes must be taken, is a bachelors, masters, or PhD required, ect….)

4) Chemistry Connection

  • Identify the areas/concepts of chemistry that are important for the career (ex: solutions, stoichiometry, reactions, nuclear, etc…)

5) Exciting Future awaits you – this is where you sell your career

  • What is the future job outlook for this field?
  • What is the expected annual salary range? (
  • Where can you get more information on this career?

6) Other

  • Include 3-5 pictures or graphics. For example: Provide an appropriate chart, graph, or table that relates to the career.

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Grading / Rubric
Excellent (100%) / Good (75%) / Fair (50%) / Poor (25%)
Research
(20 pts) / Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) with explanations and elaboration. / Student demonstrates knowledge but fails to elaborate. / Student is uncomfortable with information and appears unfamiliar with topic. / Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer basic questions about subject.
Script
(50 pts) / Student provided a typed script that included a minimum of 8 questions for the interviewer and teacher and included all required elements / Student provided a typed script that asked 5-7 questions. / Student provided a typed script that asked 2-4 questions. / 0 pts – No script was provided
Quality of Oral Presentation
(30 pts) / Presentation was interesting, engaging, and answered the research question. Student maintained eye contact with audience and uses a clear voice. / Presentation answered the question but lacked interest. Student maintains eye contact most of the time and voice is mostly audible and clear. / Student occasionally uses eye contact and voice is low. / Student reads all of report with no eye contact and either mumbles or speaks too quietly.

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