The POP Index may have been created by MELS to support the career exploration process of students in the Personal Orientation Project (POP), Exploration of Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship courses. But any high school student, teacher or guidance counsellor would find it useful.
Originally intended for individual use, this online catalogue of career exploration resources http://repertoireppo.qc.ca/en/ works equally well with a class of students. For example, math teachers faced with the perennial question “Why are we learning this?” could use the short videos contained in “Hands on Math” http://repertoireppo.qc.ca/en/outils/fiche/hands-math-353.html?p=ppo&id=21 to show students how pastry chefs, jewellery makers and skateboard designers all depend on math. If you have budding surgeons in your science class, you could refer them to the “Virtual Heart Surgery” experiential tool.
The material contained in the POP Index exposes us to many different fields of interest. Students can take virtual tours of work sites, listen in as real people describe their jobs, or try out actual work tasks.
Among the resources listed are more than 30 tool kits that are standard issue in most POP classrooms. These tool kits deal with occupations as diverse as dentistry, professional sports, flooring, law and fashion design, and often include materials-of-the-trade for hands-on exploration. (You’ll find a complete list at http://learnquebec.ca/en/content/curriculum/career_dev/pop/tool_kits.html)
The POP Index lets you download the activity guide for each tool kit. Then, if you like what you see, you can arrange with your school’s POP teacher or your GOAL consultant to borrow the actual tool kit.
Reprinted from an article by Cheryl Pratt, originally published in the Winter 2013 edition of The GOAL Post.
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