Inspiring Kids with the Science of How Things Work

Every child starts school with a natural drive to tinker, build, and figure out how the world works.​

Too often, by middle school, that curiosity is crowded out by a narrow idea of “real” science and “college material,” while hands-on talents and technical interests are treated as second tier.​

The CTE Teach-In changes that story by bringing Career & Technical Education (CTE) high school and postsecondary students into elementary and junior high classrooms to reveal the applied science behind the skills they use every day.​

Through interactive lessons, younger students see how loads and forces shape construction, how biology underpins health programs, how logic and algorithms drive IT, and how precision and materials science power modern manufacturing and other CTE pathways.​

At the same time, the CTE Teach-In helps families, educators, and the media recognize CTE classrooms, studios, and labs as places where serious science lives—right alongside college lecture halls and university research labs.

The CTE Teach-In is a nationwide celebration of applied science, where CTE high school and postsecondary students design and lead hands-on science lessons drawn directly from their CTE programs and teach them to elementary and middle school students.​

By turning CTE learners into teachers, the CTE Teach-In deepens their own mastery of concepts like forces, energy, biology, materials science, and data while giving younger students a thrilling, age-appropriate look at how real careers use science every day.​

Younger students experience science through the eyes of “the big kids” they look up to—future technicians, builders, healthcare workers, coders, and makers—at the very moment when their curiosity is still wide open and their ideas about “who science is for” are still being formed.​

The CTE Teach-In also dismantles outdated divides between “academic” science and “hands-on” CTE by showing that career and technical programs are themselves rigorous science learning environments, where experimentation, problem-solving, and innovation are part of the daily routine.

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Inspiring the Next Generation

Introducing the science inside CTE to elementary and middle school students through fun, hands-on lessons can spark a lifelong interest in fields that use real-world skills to solve complex problems.​

By reaching students early, the CTE Teach-In helps students see themselves in science-rich CTE pathways—from health sciences and IT to construction and advanced manufacturing—broadening who feels invited into these careers.​

Strengthening the talent pipeline

Over the coming years, demand for science- and technology-intensive careers will continue to grow, even as many skilled professionals retire and too few young people see CTE as a first-choice pathway.​

By connecting classroom science to visible, in-demand careers, the CTE Teach-In helps build a stronger pipeline of future technicians, technologists, and innovators who are ready for high-wage, high-demand work in every region of the country.​

Boosting America’s competitiveness

Nations that lead in applied science, technical skills, and innovation are the ones that will shape the industries of the future, from clean energy and infrastructure to advanced manufacturing and digital services.​

The CTE Teach-In supports that leadership by elevating CTE as a core part of the science ecosystem, inspiring more young people to pursue rigorous, science-rich CTE pathways that keep America’s workforce sharp, adaptable, and globally competitive.