The following results come from a survey of 4th grade students who watched a presentation on the career of an HVACR service technician. The presentation was made by News’ Business Management Editor John R. Hall and Craig Jones, co-owner of Slasor Heating & Cooling Inc., Livonia, Mich.

For the full text of the story on this presentation, read Hall’s column, “Getting Fourth Graders Interested In HVACR,” in the February 24, 2003 issue.

The questions:

1. What was your favorite part of the show?

2. Do you think being a service technician is a cool job?

3. If yes, why?

4. If no, why?

Here are the responses (a few were undecipherable and others are paraphrased).

Question #1

When the smoke came from the air freshener.

When the heating dude showed us the laser thermometer.

The heater thing was my favorite part of the show.

When we talked about how to get clean air.

The air cleaning simulator.

When the heating and cooling guy showed us the filter machine thing.

When he showed us the filter machine thing.

The laser thermometer.

When Mr. Jones showed us the things they use.

When Mr. Hall asked us questions on heating and cooling with his computer.

When Mr. Jones showed us some of the things he works with.

Getting to see the tools that a heating and cooling technician uses.

The slide show.

When you were showing some of the pictures and they were funny.

The part with the smoke.

I didn’t have a favorite part.

I liked the laser thermometer when Mr. Jones flashed our hands.

When he turned on the air filter.

When he showed us the machine that smoke came out of.

My favorite part was the show.

When Mr. Jones showed us that equipment.

When he did that smoke thing.

When you showed us about the Presidents.

When they turned that heating thing on and the smoke came out.

When the guy showed us the laser.

When he showed us the electrical air cleaner.

When you showed us how the electrical air cleaner worked.

The electrical air cleaner because it was neat when it smelled so different.

When they showed the smoke coming in the electrical air cleaner and when it showed sparks. That was really cool!

When they turned on the electrical air cleaner. It was cool when the smoke came out of the cleaner.

When the electrical air cleaner started smoking.

Watching the electrical box cleaner filling up with smoke was my favorite part. Another one was the tool to see what the temperature was.

When you showed the electrical air cleaner. It looked really cool when you put your finger on it and a spark lighted up.

The slide show because I liked the pictures with your own words on them. I also liked it when Mr. Jones was talking about the electrical air cleaner and other things like that.

When you demonstrated the electrical air cleaner. The other cool thing was when you told us about the cell phone heat service.

It was very cool when the electrical air cleaner came out. I liked it because I liked the smell and when you showed us how it worked.

I liked it when you showed us the smoke in the electrical air cleaner and it filtered it out.

The electrical air cleaner and how it made smoke.

When he turned on the electrical air cleaner and when the steam came out and it shot a blue shock.

When he showed us the materials they use.

When the electrical air cleaner was smoking and when Mr. Jones put the red light on the wall and he could feel the temperature.

When Mr. Jones showed us the smoke in the electrical air cleaner.

When the guy demonstrated how the electrical air cleaner smoked the air.

When the smoke and sparks were in the electrical air cleaner. I also liked the thing where you could do the temperatures.

When he brought the machine out and made smoke. That was really neat.

Question #2

35 – YES

10 – NO

1 – KINDA

Question #3 (Yes)

You save people’s lives, you help people breathe clearly, and a lot of other awesome things.

You get to see all of the cool stuff in a house.

You get to go on top of buildings.

You can go on top of buildings and you get to go in other cool places.

You could meet nice people and you know a lot of stuff.

We need heating and cooling and they help save lives from bad air.

You get to work with a lot of neat tools.

You get to use tons of different tools.

You get to work with tools.

You can help people stay alive and go to different places.

You can use really cool tools.

You get to go in big buildings and up on roofs. And you get to help people.

I want to work with machines.

I think it is cool. It can be dangerous.

All of the cool stuff you use.

You could see inside stuff.

You could get to use cool gadgets.

You can save people’s lives and help us breathe and all sorts of other things.

I never knew that there were so many different things to do in one job. It is really an important job too. It would be pretty hard to make it through the winter with no heat!

You could work inside a house and in a basement on a cold day and work on a furnace so you could get warm. I would like that.

It would be cool to see what would be inside an air cleaner.

You are going everywhere and you just don’t do the same thing every day.

It is a job that helps people’s lives. I would like to be a heating person some day.

I like getting into things and fixing things.

I like fixing things and putting in stuff and going to other people’s houses. I like that job a lot. I hope to become one someday. I also liked it when you were talking cool.

It seems that it would be lots of fun putting in machines that make your house warm and cold.

You get to meet different people and you get to fix a lot of things.

You can be in different parts of the job, like sales manager or a technician.

You get to do all the cool stuff like the electrical air cleaner.

You save lives and have cool stuff to work with. You can go up on roofs and houses and sometimes you have to go underground.

I’m a girl and guys say “girls can’t do anything.” I could show them wrong.

If you are a heating or cooling person you can move on and do mostly anything you want.

You get to help people if they need a new furnace or other things.

It would be pretty cool to fix heaters and cooling systems.

You use all those cool machines. It’s a good job. It is so awesome.

It would be very fun but it would be a little hard (the KINDA responder).

Question #4 (No)

It’s hard work and all the stuff you need to do can be hard.

You have to stay up late and be on call.

You get all dirty and you could get sick.

It’s kind of boring to do. It’s not easy either.

All you do is fix stuff.

It would be hard and boring.

It’s an easy way to get sick. It sounds cool but I don’t want to get sick.

I don’t like to fix furnaces.

You have to go into people’s houses and the houses could have a lot of germs.

I would not want to get hurt.

Publication date: 02/24/2003