Exploratory laboratory program pattern: hands-on experiences leading to tentative career decisions

Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited

Description

A course-level pattern in which middle school students explore career fields through varied experiential modes before selecting secondary programs. The guide states that "Student exploration and tentative decisions will be made through experiences gained through discussion, research, field trips, role-playing situations, mock industries, and 'hands-on' activities." After exploring one or more industrial arts programs, students can better select a job family in the secondary program to further develop tentative career decisions.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Laboratory and classroom experiences across the cluster's areas
• Programs designed for thirty-six (36) weeks with more material than can normally be covered

Constraints

• Career decisions at this level are explicitly tentative, to be further developed in the secondary industrial arts program

Target Learners

• Middle school students in grades 6 through 9

Target Goals

• Discovering technical abilities and interests
• Making tentative career decisions

Claims

Related Designs

• Two common national models for middle school CTE delivery: career field–specific introductory coursework and stand-alone career exploration courses

Related Patterns

• Level-differentiated emphases: awareness, exploration, specialization

Examples

• Louisiana middle-school communications industrial arts curriculum guide (drafting, electricity-electronics, graphic arts, photography)

Key Sources

• Communications: Industrial Arts Curriculum Guide, Middle Schools 6-9 (Tentative). (1974). Louisiana State Department of Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED120541

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	exploratory-hands-on-career-exploration-pattern
title	Exploratory laboratory program pattern: hands-on experiences leading to tentative career decisions
description	A course-level pattern in which middle school students explore career fields through varied experiential modes before selecting secondary programs.
status	review
generated	by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-27
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — communications-industrial-arts-curriculum-guide-1974

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