Overheard an Interesting Conversation at the LDS

[Kingpatzer]

I think some of it is also from the fine print on the back of the table.

No lie! I have no idea how I'm going to read those things in a few years time. I have fine macro vision, but enough of an astygmatism to make reading the print on a typical table next to impossible in anything except the best lighting conditions. Is that a 6, and 8 or a B? I have no idea ...

As for the larger discussion -- I absolutely agree that at issue should be the quality of instruction. The debate over paper tables versus eRDP is specious.

 

[Teamcasa]

I overhead the owner explaining to a prospective OW student that they no longer teach the tables but exclusively use the calculator.

It just seems along the lines of some other concerns on here that the agencies may be dumbing down the OW classes. I'd really like to see some comments from instructors on this one.

The dumbing down is one thing, teaching how to read and understand the tables vs computers is another.

Most recreational divers use their computers more than the tables but that does not mean they were not taught what nitrogen loading is and how to use the tables.

The problem I sometimes see is new divers that don't use the tables AND do not know how to operate and read their computers.

Ya'll are having the wrong fight. It doesn't matter if someone uses tables, or a calculator, or a computer ... as long as they understand what they are doing, get the correct answer and act on that answer appropriately.

Wow, 100 posts and we are back to the beginning again.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think that you're basically right, but that there is a little more too it. Table, computer, it doesn't matter to me, a good understanding of the background and a diver should be able to use either without a bunch of fuss. The problem lies in that the table advocates tend to be the older line instructors who has usually (not always) provided that firm theoretical underpinning while those who slough it off and nothing more than say don't let that number go to zero, do not tend to provide the basic decompression information.

Now, let's be careful about hasty generalizations.

When I first learned (I didn't even know there were dive computers when I took the class), my instructor taught me a step-by-step sequence of actions to come up with the correct answer to a table problem. I learned that sequence of steps well and got all the answers correct on the exam.

Later on, long after that class, I learned something about decompression theory. Much later I learned a lot about it. As I have said in some of the 30-40 other threads on this topic (OK, OK, I exaggerate), I teach my students what they need to know about deco theory before we even mention the tables.

 

[jmorriss]

I had a pretty good handle of decompression theory going into OW Class thanks to 10 years of teaching from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt- but thats just me :read:

 

[Diver0001]

Yeah,

I learned in 1984. Recreational divers weren't using computers yet. I learned the tables, in fact, I made so many dives using the tables that I had a large part of them memorized.

And I never knew the first thing about deco theory until I decided to get serious about diving and stumbled across something about it on the internet.

R..

 

[Blackwood]

Wow, 100 posts and we are back to the beginning again.

Goes to my Third Law of Scubaboardynamics:

"Each thread has a maximum number of pertinent posts. Once that 'critical mass' has been reached (often around post #2), the thread will explode into a mass of either repetitive or irrelevant drivel. Many 'thanks' will follow."

 

[boulderjohn]

I have benefited from this thread. I believe the next time I teach decompression theory I will make use of a series of images from a computer dive profile to show tissue on gassing and off gassing from the early parts of a dive to the end.

 

[Teamcasa]

Here are a few more example John,
These show how and when the Safety Stop help drop the NL levels.

 

[RetMTFE]

For a sport that places so much emphasis on redundancy and having a back up for their back up, I'm amazed at the number of responses that are along the line of, "I've got a computer and it's more acurate. Who needs tables."
Personally, I love my computer but I don' plan to be the one that's on day two of a week long live aboard who can't dive anymore because my computer went belly up and I don't know how to use the tables.

 

[promocop]

where can I buy an abacas?