Locations:

Brandywine High School
Buchanan High School
Coloma High School
Lakeshore High School
Niles High School
River Valley High School

Career Opportunities Include:

· Air-Conditioning Repair
· Brake Repair
· Front-End Mechanics
· Transmission Technician
· Tune-Up Technician

GRADES: 11-12

Class Description

Automotive Technology I

The automotive course is broken up into lab time and classroom time. The areas covered will help a student become more independent with his/her own auto repairs. The basics of repair and maintenance will be discussed. This course focuses on employability skills, manuals and data, tools, batteries and electrical systems, tires, lubrication, ignition systems, cooling systems, disc brakes, drum brakes, steering and suspensions, and fuel systems. This course will help prepare students for a career in the automotive trade.

Automotive Technology II

This course is two semesters long for two hours each day and focuses on two major areas of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). The first semester covers brake systems; the second semester covers steering and suspension. Both areas follow the tasks set forth by NATEF which is an organization established by ASE. This will give students the opportunity to obtain a job in these areas and pursue certification after high school, allowing them to test out of certain college courses in the pursuit of a degree in Automotive Technology.

Content Areas

n/a

Career Outlook

Automotive service technicians and mechanics use their high-tech skills to inspect, maintain, and repair automobiles and light trucks that have gasoline engines. The increasing sophistication of automotive technology now requires workers who can use computerized shop equipment and work with electronic components while maintaining their skills with traditional hand tools.

Opportunities should be very good for automotive service technicians and mechanics with diagnostic and problem-solving skills and knowledge of electronics and mathematics.

Median hourly earnings of automotive service technicians and mechanics, including commission, were $14.71 in 2002.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2004-2005 Edition. http://bls.gov/oco/