Over the past few years, Switch electric vehicles have transformed the way automotive education is taught at high schools across the state.
We asked a few high school instructors to reflect on some of their lessons learned from adopting Switch vehicles at their schools.
Robert Thayer at Davis High School said students love working on the vehicles and they are a great way to engage students if your school has the expertise and facilities to maintain them. He recommends painting or powder coating the parts before working with them.
Mike Miller of Clovis West High School said the Switch program helped attract students at his school who were interested in robotics and believes it will help make the perception of an automotive worker less mechanical and more technical.
Not everything went as planned, but Miller said those experiences proved to be good teachable moments for his students.
“It was good for the students to struggle through some problems together,” Miller said.
One of the benefits of the Switch vehicles is that they can be rebuilt over and over again. Moving forward, Miller said he will take more pictures during disassembly to make things easier when it’s time for the next group of students to build.
Miller also recommends using two cars if possible to allow for more students to participate and have a more hands-on experience with the vehicles.
Robert Carlos at Victor Valley High School concurred, saying that it’s best not to have too many students working on one vehicle at the same time.
Along the lines of taking photos during the build process, Saul Garcia of Valley High School said it’s important to categorize and organize the vehicle’s components while unpacking so nothing gets misplaced or mixed up during assembly.
He also said that instructors should keep students’ driving skills — or lack thereof — in mind as the Switch vehicles are ready to test.
“Remember that not all students know how to drive or have ever driven vehicle,” Garcia said. “Instructors might have to give driving and vehicle safety lessons.”
