Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ability to explore career search education specifically for third grade middle school students who fall under the national grade system standard percentage, referred to as underachievers. This lesson was designed as fourteen classes with seven topics. Two third grade middle school students were selected as research participants. The participants were observed and analyzed throughout classes, in-depth interviews, and surveys. The process and results of this study are summarized as follows. First, The self-exploration process is very important for underachievers so it was first conducted to help them to be more familiar about themselves before planning the future. The self-directed inquiry of participants also showed many improvements before and after the research. Second, Participants in the study were able to have a more broad perspective on their career search by looking into areas of 'why choose this career path', 'how to do it’ and ‘how to get there'. Having a board perspective allowed participants to think about different career opportunities but still in the same ideal field. Third, We looked at possible future outcomes based on the expectation of the future changes and fears of the research participants. They selected role models that could influence the process of preparing for their career and interviewed the role models in person. This helped a lot with self-confidence and gave positive motivation for the participants. The results of this study suggest that to improve self-directed process, self-exploration should be preceded in the course of underachievers' career search. It will require a motivational process of continuous and realistic career search for them. We have concluded that underachieving students can have a continuous vision of career search throughout their lifetime after this.