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Students grease their palms in mechanics

Much of the time spent in shop

Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Nov 23/01) - About 40 Samuel Hearne students are changing oil and getting their hands into grease in a mechanics course.

The course is offered to three different groups each day. The students range from Grades 10-12, but the groups feature a variety of grades.

NNSL Photo

Bryan Wood handles a grease gun during a mechanics class at Samuel Hearne Secondary school. - Malcolm Gorrill/NNSL photo

The course covers modes and mechanisms, referring to different styles of transportation, as well as steering and suspension, exhaust and brakes, plus lubrication and cooling systems.

Instructor Bill O'Gorman said that while safety and knowledge tests are conducted in the classroom, as well as some theory, he likes to have the students spend about 80 per cent of the time in the shop.

Students do things like changing the oil, and other general maintenance items, like checking brakes and exhaust systems. While O'Gorman was talking some students were changing the oil on a car, and later that day another group would do more work on the same vehicle.

"It's through repetition that students learn," O'Gorman said, pointing out that changing the oil or antifreeze on one make of car can be quite different from another make.

"The drain holes are in different spots, different amounts of antifreeze, different size rods, different locations," O'Gorman said. "Repetition is where they get good at it."

When just one student is performing a task, O'Gorman makes sure the others are observing.

"Watching is learning. You're learning from someone else."

O'Gorman said that while some students won't be interested in pursuing mechanics, some might, and that this course might encourage some to go into a specialized related field like brakes or parts.

"There are some students that are really excelling in the course, and this is what the course is all about," O'Gorman said.