STEM Applications & Holland's Career Theory

Question for Teacher on GoAnimate

Such a common question, "Hey, Ms. B, What are we doing today?"  This question is often repeated when my STEM Applications students explore Holland's Career Theory created by Dr. John Holland.  The unit really captures their interest.

STEM Applications is an instructional program in the state of Mississippi that aims to engage students in future academic and vocational courses by exploring STEM careers. Through the year long class, high school freshmen address technology literacy, the design process, emerging technologies, computer‐aided design, sustainable design and technology, power and energy, robotics/programming, financial literacy, and workplace skills for the 21st century. The curriculum framework is built upon 21st Century Skills Standards, ACT College Readiness Standards, and the National Educational Technology Standards for Students.  I am one of three STEM teachers at Grenada High School.

The exploration of Holland's Career Theory kicks off the school year in my classroom.  It also serves as a reference throughout our year as my students explore STEM careers. This blog post serves to document and improve the introductory assignment for my Holland's Career Theory STEM unit.

In the past I have used the traditional combination of electronic presentation and lecture to introduce the Holland's model.  While the students are interested, lectures limit their involvement.  Next year,  I plan to flip the unit.  The plan is to have the students individually view the electronic presentation, embedded below, then continue to explore the theory and document their findings.  After this work is completed, the class will have a discussion/reflection and publish their efforts online. I created the electronic presentation using Narrable.  It  contains a brief introduction, embedded research questions and a website that offers free a Holland Code assessment tool.  (References).



After individually viewing the Narrable introduction, the students will generate their own electronic presentation documenting the outcome of their research and their Holland's Code Quiz.  Perhaps they will choose to use Narrable, GoAnimate or find another web tool that they prefer.  I can't wait to share their work next year.


Here are some additional resources:

This video is a succinct explanation of Holland's Personality/Career Theory.


Self-Directed-Search offers a for-fee quiz, but has a great explanation of the theory
Career Smarts does a nice job of identifying work environments by Holland's 6 Categories
New Hampshire Economic + Labor Market Information Bureau offers a paper-based quiz
iSeek provides guidance for students with quiz results