What is so overwhelming?

[fjpatrum]

In other words, I don't understand the thread. I don't see students overwhelmed by the OW materials at all. I see them learning it easily and confidently. Oh, I do see exceptions, but they are usually students with some kind of a mental block related to the learning or testing.

John, you pegged the point for the whole thread in the first place. I haven't participated in a lot of classes (1 OW class, to be exact) and only witnessed a few more at the local quarry. I don't see the whole "overwhelmed OW diver" thing that I see mentioned on SB all the time. This thread was specifically because it seems like fear mongering to me and it's incredibly annoying.

I recognize that a lot of us newbs think we're better at this than we actually are but doing this sport safely simply isn't that difficult. It takes a modicum of thought and consideration for the "what if" scenarios but it's not brain surgery or nuclear weapons design. It's simple gas laws (that are often blown far more out of proportion than necessary, in my opinion) that can be demonstrated to a child in a matter of minutes, and then practice of a few basic skills.

I just wonder why so many people seem to think that it's impossible to learn all this stuff in a short period of time. Master it, sure, I get that takes practice but saying it can't be learned in a few short sessions or that it's overwhelming to most people seems a bit of a stretch.

 

[AfterDark]

none - my daughter (even though she is dyslexic) watched the videos and pretty much could ace the quizzes at 10. She is 12 now, and her reading comprehension is finally clicking. She gets it......

Now, condense the whole thing into a weekend, and you have the skydiving training scene from Fandango.....

(short version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9g7sBVUFMs

(long version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8F5MkP484E

And that hits the nail squarely on the head!

 

[TMHeimer]

Having now been involved in helping to teach classes for four years, I am repeatedly astonished at how difficult people find it to learn the basic concepts, and then to connect the theory with what they are actually DOING in the water. I've had students turn around on the 5th or 6th pool session and ask me, "I put air INTO my BC when I descend, and let it out when I go up, right?" This in spite of the fact that Peter almost boils the entire classroom work down to Knowledge Review 1, Question 5 (the pressure/volume matrix), and refers to that concept over and over again, both in lecturing and in asking questions, and in reviewing the quizzes and exam.

I think that, for a lot of people, abstract concept learning was always difficult and still is. For those of us who find that kind of thing easy, the confusion of students can be hard to understand at all, and can be very frustrating. In addition, when it comes to the physical acts of handling gear and diving, rapid-paced classes don't permit enough repetition for some people to feel solid with what they are doing; before they've completely locked something down in their head, they're on to something completely different, and the first concept or skill goes skittering off. A lot of people seem to need to learn slowly, and do not do well when asked to multi-task with new ideas and procedures. Classes given on the usual several-days-and-you're-done schedule don't permit enough time to cement things.

This is going to sound rather elitist, but scuba is a pretty democratic sport. It isn't dirt cheap, but it isn't horribly expensive -- people from students to mechanics to systems analysts can and do take the sport up. Some of those people have the jobs they do because school wasn't a great place for them, but they found somewhere where their particular strengths were useful. Those people can have a great deal of trouble with "book learning", as can adult learners who haven't taken any sort of class in many years.

I agree with all of that. I'm a "slow" learner. I'm a "studier". I did that through Jr. High and H.S. and aced everything--90% avg. or better. "Overwhelming" in the OP is relative. If I didn't dive regularly after OW cert. I would for sure forget even how to put the kit together. That's why I constantly dive and review my manuals. Everyone is different with regard to this. I would never have taken a "weekend" course. And as I have said often, I'm a "water" person since childhood. As a teacher, I have seen over decades that people learn at different rates and with different methods. I had trouble finishing DM because I needed something very specific as to EXACTLY why my demo skills were not up to snuff. I studied and kept at it.