The students have spent time at Horsham’s William Adams CAT heavy machinery dealer. 

Horsham College teacher Jeremy Dover said students had simulated a semi-trailer delivery of agriculture and construction equipment from Melbourne.

“It’s not the usual classroom maths,” he said.

“We’re looking at tyres, fuel and truck heights.

“It’s not textbooks, it’s applied”

The students used a Google Maps-style software program to find a safe and efficient heavy truck route to Horsham and then visited the CAT dealership on Thursday.

“We planned out a route picking up a load from CAT’s main distribution centre in Point Cook and taking it to Horsham,” Mr Dover said.

“We mapped out the highways, checked bridge heights and look at a lot of photos of trucks that had hit low bridges.”

Horsham College Justine Taylor-Campbell, age 17, said the truck maths lessons had been alright, 

“It’s good to learn about stuff you might not know,” she said.

“It’s different. You’re not just adding up numbers.”

Ms Taylor-Campbell said she was still having a look at possible careers. 

“Working with trucks does seem like a good job to have,” she said.

William Adams CAT branch manager Rodney Hogan said he was happy for the dealership to help out the school program.

“We have a very good program for apprentices, and if young people have an opportunity to learn about the industry and maybe join it then we are happy to participate,” he said.