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Classroom activity Grade 6 Careers & CTE

Silverpine Water Utility Job Fair: A Careers Station Game

A grade 6 careers station rotation where student groups visit six water-sector job cards, match each role to its tasks and education path, and pick a favorite.

Objectives

  1. Students will match six water-sector roles to their daily tasks, tools, and education paths.
  2. Students will identify which water-sector role best fits their own interests and explain why.

Vocabulary

Key words: water sector, operator license, graduate degree, role

Teacher overview

This is a station-rotation activity for a class working in groups of three or four, set at a fictional utility's job fair. Six stations each hold a job card for one real water-sector role. Groups rotate through the stations, read each card, and match the role to its tasks and education path on a recording handout. Because students must read what each role does in order to fill in the handout, they leave able to tell six water jobs apart and to see that one utility needs all of them.

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, print the six job cards from the Student Handout and post them as Station 1 through Station 6 around the room. Each card names a role at Silverpine Regional Water Utility and lists its tasks, tools, and education path.
  2. Introduce the activity (about 5 minutes): tell students that a single water utility employs many different workers, and that their job is to figure out who does what. Hand out the recording sheet and assign each group a starting station.
  3. Run the rotations (about 24 minutes, roughly 4 minutes per station): at each station, the group reads the job card and completes the matching row for that station on the recording sheet. Ring a bell or call time to rotate groups clockwise to the next station.
  4. Set the ending condition clearly: the rotation ends when every group has visited all six stations and completed all six matching rows plus questions 7 and 8.
  5. Regroup for the debrief (about 8 minutes). Ask the debrief questions below, then have each student privately answer question 9 on their sheet.
  6. Debrief question A: "Which roles could a person start with a high school diploma and a license, and which need a college or graduate degree?" Use answers to show that the sector offers several legitimate education paths.
  7. Debrief question B: "Why is this utility hiring for so many of these roles at once?" Connect to the fact that about 10,000 operator openings are projected each year from 2025 to 2035 and that roughly one-third of the water workforce can retire within the next decade.
Silverpine Water Utility Job Fair: A Careers Station Game — Grade 6 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Job cards (post these as stations).

  • Station 1, Distribution System Operator: Keeps clean water moving through the pipes. Checks pressure, opens and closes valves, flushes hydrants, and helps fix water main breaks. Path: high school diploma, on-the-job training, and a state operator license.
  • Station 2, Water Quality Lab Analyst: Tests samples in the lab for turbidity, chlorine, and lead, and writes the safety reports. Path: a college science degree, and in some states a lab-analyst credential.
  • Station 3, Environmental Engineer: Designs new treatment steps, such as a membrane plant, and sizes the pumps and pipes. Path: a four-year engineering degree, often a master's, and a Professional Engineer license.
  • Station 4, Pump Station Operator: Starts and stops large pumps that lift water to homes on higher ground, and responds when a pump fails. Path: high school diploma, on-the-job training, and a state operator license.
  • Station 5, Hydrologist: Measures water levels in wells and studies how much water an aquifer can supply. Path: a college degree plus a graduate degree in earth or water science.
  • Station 6, Sampling Technician: Collects water from homes and the plant and checks each reading against its legal limit. Path: a high school diploma with technical training, sometimes a certificate.

Recording sheet. For questions 1 through 6, write which station role each clue describes.

  1. I keep the pressure right in the pipes and flush hydrants. Which role am I?
  2. I test samples for turbidity, chlorine, and lead in the lab. Which role am I?
  3. I design new treatment steps and earn a Professional Engineer license. Which role am I?
  4. I start and stop big pumps that lift water uphill. Which role am I?
  5. I measure water levels in wells and study the aquifer. Which role am I?
  6. I collect water from homes and the plant and check each reading against a limit. Which role am I?
  7. Which two roles usually follow the operator-license path of a diploma, on-the-job training, and a state exam?
  8. Which role usually needs a graduate degree in earth or water science?
  9. Which of the six roles would you most want to try, and why?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Distribution System Operator (Station 1), who checks pressure, works valves, and flushes hydrants.
  2. Answer: Water Quality Lab Analyst (Station 2), who runs the turbidity, chlorine, and lead tests.
  3. Answer: Environmental Engineer (Station 3), who designs treatment steps and holds a Professional Engineer license.
  4. Answer: Pump Station Operator (Station 4), who runs the pumps that lift water uphill.
  5. Answer: Hydrologist (Station 5), who measures well levels and studies the aquifer.
  6. Answer: Sampling Technician (Station 6), who collects samples and checks each reading against its limit.
  7. Answer: The Distribution System Operator and the Pump Station Operator both follow the operator-license path.
  8. Answer: The Hydrologist usually needs a graduate degree in earth or water science.
  9. Answer: Answers will vary. A strong response names one of the six roles and gives a personal reason tied to the tasks or the education path on that role's card.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a word bank of the six role names at the top of the recording sheet and let them draw a line from each clue to the matching name before writing it in, reducing the writing load during the timed rotations.

Extension

Ask each group to invent a seventh water-sector role not on the cards, write a job card for it in the same format (tasks, tools, path), and post it as a bonus station for other groups to guess.

ELL supports

Pair each ELL student with a partner reader for the rotations, and provide the job cards with a small icon beside each role (a valve, a test tube, a blueprint, a pump, a well, a sample bottle). Allow question 9 to be answered orally.