This pathfinder has been developed to support the following Year 8 Science task
My Science Career
Step 1. Define your task – Choose a Science Career
There are so many interesting and exciting Science careers how will you decide on one to research?
A good idea would be to narrow your choice by selecting a field of science that may interest you.
Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Browse the non-fiction books set aside for you by your teacher librarian
- View the Topic Index in Today’s Science
- Explore the subjects in Science Online
- Explore the Science Reference Center. (It includes an extensive list of scientists with links to a range of relevant articles.)
- Browse the Careers in Science page on the Science Buddies website
Step 2. Locate a range of resources
Now that you have selected a Science Career try using the term (e.g. marine biologist) as a keyword to perform an All Fields search in the Library Catalogue
You may also like to try using the term ‘Scientists – biography’ as a Subject search to locate resources on famous scientists.
Below are some suggested search tools and sources of information that you can use for this task.
Step 3. Select the sources of information you will use
Of the sources of information you have located which ones will be of use to you?
Can you read and understand the information?
How credible/ reliable and up-to-date is the source of information?
How relevant is the information to the needs of the task?
Step 4. Record and Organise your information
How can you best organise the information to complete your task?
Have you:
– made notes under each focus question of the task?
– recorded details for your reference list/ bibliography? (It is always ethical to acknowledge the source of the information you have used.)
Do you have enough information?
You may like to download one of the Organising Templates to help you take notes and organise the information you gather.
Step 5. Present/ Communicate your final product
How can you best present/ communicate this information with others?
Who is your audience?
Which format would be best? (Have you been given directions about this from your teacher?)
Have you included everything you need to?
Step 6. Evaluate your work
What did you learn?
How well did you go following the research process?
What did you feel confident about and/or do well?
Do you think you need support with some parts of the research process int he future?
What would you change if you were to do this again?