5 whys - considerations for anyone taking any training course

5 Whys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's very easy, when dazzled by the light of the resident Dive Master, Instructor, or Resident Guru, to take things at face value. We should not.

Wouldn't it be better for students, at whatever level, to engage the above 5 whys?

And wouldn't it be better, for Instructors etc. to keep on top of their game so they can properly rationalise their thinking to a student beyond the 'just do it' or 'this is why' to the 1st degree. 5 degrees of questioning - or however many necessary - would help remove laziness of thought for both magister and pedagogue roles.

Perhaps there is an active role for the student in training and the 5 whys could be a good starting point. PITA for many instructors, but potentially a simple mechanism to get new divers to question the why and instructors to be able to answer them.

Just a brain fart.

J

I'm responding to my own thread because I think it's a great idea.

If there was a reductionist push towards instruction it would get everyone thinking more. Thought and clarity is the road to happiness.

So ask, ask! and then ask some more. And have the confidence not to be cowed.

J

It's a basic troubleshooting technique ... eliminate symptoms until you get down to the cause ... so perhaps you could elaborate on how you think it should apply to scuba training ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I think two things are true: One, people accept what you tell them to do better if you can explain why you are telling them to do it, and two, they will understand when they are facing an exception to the rule you taught them, if they understand what the "whys" behind that rule ARE.

A silly example: My husband railed at me for years because I would put the toilet paper roll on the spindle the wrong way. He told me how he wanted it done, but I never remembered or bothered to do it that way, until he told me that, since he was standing up, reaching UNDER the roll for the edge was a PITA. The minute I understood the reason, I was able to remember what to do, and I have not done it wrong since.

If you tell people the basic rule of scuba is "never hold your breath", and then tell them to use breath control to manage their buoyancy, you are going to confuse the daylights out of them. Explaining what the issue with breath-holding IS, and what it is you want them to do with their breath to control the buoyancy, will result in a confident student who can execute what you want them to be able to do.

Instructors should explain the why, and students should ask if they don't feel they have heard it.

TS&M: Years ago, when my third wife was living, she cured the tissue paper problem by installing two roll holders. One for me and one for her. No problemo.

At least in the PADI system, instructors are taught to give a good reason why every skill is done.

In the background reading materials required for the instructor rating, there is a story of a training exercise that is no longer done. (I can't remember what it was.) The starting point for its elimination from training was a class in which a teen aged student asked the instructor why the skill was being done and the instructor could not think of a reason.

When I taught writing, I told my students that if I could not give them a good, practical reason for anything I told them to do, they did not have to do it.

That Wikipedia article is of questionable utility in the context of a student learning to dive. First they need to know that there is a battery, that the battery is charged by an alternator, that the alternator is driven by a belt and that the belt is broken. The method implies a deep understanding of the process that simply doesn't exist for a new scuba student.

Perhaps another approach for a student is to actually READ the course material. Or, maybe, go to a library or book store and read everything in print. I found the BSAC manual to be quite good. Maybe even better is the $2 "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving". Sure, it's old but the material is well presented.

Causal analysis is an important tool. So, too, is RTFMing. Then, if there are questions, ask them!

But the thing with students is that they don't know what they don't know so they have no frame of reference for asking questions. It's not like diving relates to previous life experiences.

Richard

TSandM:

until he told me that, since he was standing up, reaching UNDER the roll for the edge was a PITA.

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and I thought the toilets smell bad because all men just shake...

piikki:

and I thought the toilets smell bad because all men just shake...

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..and I always thought it was because women just can't seem to remember to put the toilet seat back up.

InTheDrink:

5 Whys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's very easy, when dazzled by the light of the resident Dive Master (snip)

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We divemasters are a dazzling group, are we not?