Career Gaming is a Project-Based Learning (PBL) plan. PBL is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.1

Essential Elements of PBL

A quality PBL experience requires seven essential elements.

1. Challenging Problem or Question: The project is framed by a meaningful problem to be solved or a question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge.
2. Sustained Inquiry: Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
3. Authenticity: The project involves real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact, or the project speaks to personal concerns, interests, and issues in the students' lives.
4. Voice and Choice: Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create.
5. Reflection: Students and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, and obstacles that arise and strategies for overcoming them.
6. Critique and Revision: Students give, receive, and apply feedback to improve their process and products.
7. Public Product: Students make their project work public by explaining, displaying, and/or presenting it to audiences beyond the classroom.²

Agricultural Careers

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person can make. When selecting a career path, it is important to be aware of a variety of careers and informed about the educational requirements and types of salaries associated with the career options. Every industry or occupational endeavor has entry-level, mid-level, and highly skilled/educated positions. It is also important to consider individual interests, abilities, and skills.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) anticipates more annual job openings in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment than can be filled by U.S. graduates. Agriculture is a big "career umbrella."³ While an agricultural career may not involve working directly on a farm, the "fruits of your labor" may be linked to farm production through the processing and manufacturing of farmed goods and provided services. Farmers and ranchers work with scientists, technicians, business people, and educators to produce safe, inexpensive food. Researchers and scientists help to develop new seeds, safer crop protection, and more efficient machines that are part of a large, complex system that provides us with the things we use every day. Opportunities have expanded in the field of agriculture to include unique positions in sustainable farm management systems, biotechnology, forestry, marketing, engineering, and more.

Career Highlights This PBL plan asks students to investigate agricultural career opportunities. The list of careers to be highlighted will be developed through completion of the project. Explore the career profiles at agexplorer.ffa.org to discover job outlooks, education requirements, and average salaries.