Auto Tech CTE Students Get Hands-On Experience Repairing Golf Carts

No stranger to going above and beyond for his students, when Jeff Porter received tow golf carts at the Automotive Technology garage at the Delisle Options Center that needed to be serviced, he immediately came up with the idea to have his CTE classes oversee the process. And to use this opportunity for his students to have hands-on, real world experiences that would apply to their current and upcoming units.

Over the course of four weeks, the juniors and seniors rebuilt the steering suspension, evaluated the tires, checked and charged the golf carts’ batteries, and will service the vehicles and a review of all of their units.

Due to the compact nature of golf carts’ system, the CTE students had the opportunity to visibly see more of the working mechanics of the vehicles. Senior Jerion Tate came into the process with some previous knowledge but the golf carts’ servicing was more in depth due to the smaller parts of the suspension system.

“It helped me to understand the system more,” said senior Everett Busta-Peck. “And we could do more in a shorter amount of time than with a car.”

This process has also allowed the students to run into real world experiences and for them to spearhead how to resolve the issue. Like when some of the bolts were rusted, the students had to problem solve how to remove them just like they would have to in the workplace.

Porter mentioned that in the past he would have jumped right in and changed the bolt, but has learned the value of productive struggle through his Clarity work. And to create opportunities for his students to stretch their abilities, learn from their mistakes, and to achieve mastery of what they are learning through persistent effort. It also helps improve student motivation, self-regulation, and their willingness to engage with the struggle itself.

The Auto Tech students expressed that they have really enjoyed working on the golf carts and that it has been a great learning experience. When asked about it, all the juniors were shouting out at once and excited to share their contributions. Junior Deonte Childress explained that they did oil changes, checked tire treads, and checked the batteries. He said “the funnest part was the oil changes and taking off the tires.”

In the coming weeks, students will perform an alignment for the steering & suspension system so that the tires wear correctly. Then Mr. Porter and the students will take them for a test drive in the shop.