Jobs that use Chemistry (Year 11)

Chemistry opens doors to a surprising range of careers - from medicine and pharmacy to forensic science, materials engineering, food technology, and environmental testing. This lesson plan will help you to show Year 11 students how to weigh careers and plan their next steps.

This lesson is designed to be delivered in 30 minutes as a teacher-led classroom activity.

This activity supports the following frameworks:

  • Gatsby Benchmark 4

This activity is suitable for Year 11 and features careers linked to the following subjects:

  • Chemistry

This is one of three lesson plans designed for Year 11 Chemistry teachers:

These lesson plans will help you show students how Chemistry connects to their future careers.

We recommend using this lesson plan at the very beginning of Year 11. When students start seriously weighing what comes after GCSEs, the earlier they have a concrete sense of where Chemistry can take them, the better the decisions they'll make later in the year.

Learning objectives

  • Students will be able to evaluate specific jobs that use Chemistry.
  • Students will understand what those jobs involve day-to-day and how to move towards them.
  • Students will name a job that interests them and describe a next step towards it.

Before the lesson

  • You will need a computer connected to the internet and a classroom screen.
  • Open the Jobs that use Chemistry page and have it ready on the screen.
  • Review the list of jobs that use Chemistry. Pick 3 jobs to explore in more depth:
    • One job that's predictable for Chemistry.
    • One job that's less predictable for Chemistry.
    • One job that's reached through an apprenticeship.
  • View the detailed career page for those jobs so that you know what's there before the class starts.

During the lesson

1. What do you already know? (5 minutes)

  • Ask the class to suggest jobs that use Chemistry and briefly explain how.
  • Write the suggestions on the board. Note which jobs feel realistic to them and which feel distant.

2. Looking at jobs in depth (15 minutes)

  • Bring up the Jobs that use Chemistry page on the classroom screen.
  • For each of the jobs you picked, open the full career page and discuss with the class:
    • What does the job involve day-to-day?
    • How does the job use Chemistry skills?
    • What other subjects or skills are important?
    • What routes lead into that job?
  • Spend more time on one page if students are engaged, rather than rushing through all three.

3. Making it personal (10 minutes)

  • Ask students to pick one job from today's lesson that they could see themselves doing.
  • Go round the class, asking each student to name the job and answer:
    • What is it about the job that appeals to you most?
    • What would you need to do or find out next to move towards it?
  • Close by reminding students that knowing what you don't want is just as useful as knowing what you do want. Both help you make better post-16 choices.

After the lesson