The impact of personalized context through different careers on students’ interest in chemistry learning and on their future career aspirations

the subject. To address this, I, together with the research team, developed a chemistry learning module within the Personalized Teaching and Learning (PeTeL) digital environment, allowing students to choose between different career contexts (medicine, engineering, nutrition, and art) through which to learn chemistry. The chemistry module in PeTeL attempts to teach the subject of ionic bound and solubility of ionic materials in water. The module opens with a short introduction video in which four professionals introduce themselves and their occupation. After the introduction, students were free to choose their path via professional context (medicine, engineering, nutrition, and art). The chemistry module was developed by the research team and chemistry teachers.
133 students aged 15 to 16, all of whom attending 10th graders with chemistry as their major subject, participated in this mixed-method research. The chosen research tools combined a pre-post quantitative interest questionnaire and qualitative student post interviews. Quantitative results showed a small decrease in overall interest in chemistry, consistent with broader trends in science education. However, students who already had an interest in chemistry maintained their interest levels, and those with initially neutral interest showed no significant change. Qualitative findings revealed that students valued the relevance and real-world applicability of chemistry provided by CBL, appreciating the autonomy and engagement it offered. 
I have found that the module positively influenced students’ career aspirations, with a significant increase in interest in healthcare, science, and engineering careers. The numbers of students who did not know what they wanted to work in at the age of 30 decreased and the number of students aspiring to a career in healthcare and engineering increased. Students appreciated learning from professionals and gaining realistic insights into different career paths. The students suggested providing a broader selection of career options and a deeper integration of chemistry content with real-world applications for future improvements of the module.