Teaching a 12yr old - need some advice

[glamourpuss]

Some friends own a dive shop and have recently started homeschooling their kids. In addition to their general studies, they are trying to encourage them to branch out a bit and learn something fun that interests them. Their son is taking a video game design class and their daughter expressed an interest in underwater photography, so they asked if I would teach her some things. Despite having relatively little experience teaching, and even less experience with 12 year olds, I said "sure".

Our first class was last week, I put together a bit of a lesson plan on underwater photography basics and composition. I soon realized that I over estimated the attention span of a 12 year old and quickly changed plans. I decided for the first day we would just focus on 3 things… getting close… being patient… and shooting up. We then went for a dive to practice. Things were going pretty well at the beginning and I kept reminding her of our 3 goals, but things pretty much went out the window as she got caught up in the excitement of the dive. I realized that just setting her loose with a camera was a mistake. Never the less… she had a lot of fun, and wants to go again, I'm just not really sure how much she actually learned.

So I'm turning to the board to see if anyone has any ideas on exercises or activities we could do to put into practice some of the theory.?

For example I am thinking of taking down a toy or something that she can focus on and having her take pictures of it at different distances to show the effect of a large column of water and the importance of getting close.

Keeping in mind that she's only 12, and is using a point and shoot without a strobe, does anyone else have any other ideas? She dives for fun without me, so I want to keep our "classes" educational, but still fun.


Appreciate any suggestions.

 

[tridacna]

Is the 12 year old a certified diver?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I would just let her have fun shooting whatever she wants. Then go over the shots and ask her to try and remember what she did right for the good ones and wrong for the junk ones. Make it a game. Try to get her to repeat the right stuff. Keep a log and offer to publish the good ones on line for her. At twelve she is supposed to be caught up in the excitement of it. Who cares if she remembers f stops, exposure modes, or even white balance. Try to introduce too strict a curriculum and I can almost guarantee you'll ruin it for her. Let her decide when she wants to take more good shots than bad and wants to know how to do that. Then you can teach her. For now just enjoy the enthuiasm and the dives.

 

[nimoh]

I would introduce challenges and goals. Pick a particular subject (that is commonly available locally) and set the goal of the dive to get photographs of it, then go through the pictures with the goal of choosing one to frame and hang on her bedroom wall. At this time topics such as composition can be introduced.

She will probably be more involved in the theory aspect of the class since you are discussing her work.

 

[Slowrise]

What would she like to do? Photography (on land) is a big hobby of mine, and my kids love to take pictures as well. But they are completely uninterested in composition or exposure, and basically just want to get snaps of as many different animals (or flowers, or cars or whatever) as possible. So I try really hard to not impose any of my judging on them, but just let them knock themselves out with cheap used digital cameras.

 

[glamourpuss]

@tridacna: Yes she is a certified diver.

@Jim Lapenta : While I totally agree with the "let her shoot whatever she wants and have fun" idea... as I mentioned her parents own a diveshop so she can do this whenever she wants, and frequently does. This is meant to be a bit of a supplement to her homeschooling, so I would like it to be a bit more structured and educational. I'm not going anywhere near f-stops or white balance... we're talking strictly basics here, but would like to spend the first half of the dive with a goal or exercise before letting her loose to shoot whatever she wants.

@nimoh: I like the idea of picking one subject and focusing on photos of just that. We have been going through her photos after diving and discussing them, but since they are all over the place it's like comparing apples or oranges... I think having a common subject will help her identify which shots are working and which aren't. Also I love the idea of having the ultimate goal of hanging one on her bedroom wall. I think she'll love that.

Anyone else have other ideas for projects, exercises we could do?

Thanks!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

There are so many topics that naturally arise when diving, let alone the photography.... Color absorption with depth... photograph some items at various depths. put a basket ball in a mesh bag and add lead so it is manageable and take it down and photograph various stages of compression, make her look up and learn the scientific name of 3-4 creatures observed on the dive. Math: make them calculate their SAC, plotting pressure versus time and teach line slope equals rate, equation of volume divided by time is flow rate, Tons of stuff to do with diving and experiments.. just get her to design a simple expereiment or something and use the camera to document it....

 

[glamourpuss]

Wow, thanks @dumpsterDiver all sounds great, but maybe a little high level for a 12yr old . I don't even know how to "calculate their SAC, plotting pressure versus time and teach line slope equals rate, equation of volume divided by time is flow rate".

I thought I mentioned, but perhaps not... that the focus is on underwater photography. I do like the idea of color absorption with depth and think this might be a great exercise for a future dive. Will have to find something I can take down and we can photograph at different depths. Thanks for the idea, this is exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for!

Cheers! Keep em comming!

 

[tracydr]

What about color? The PADI Encyclopedia of diving has some very good information about color, depth and diving, along with some other information on light and absorption. These might be good projects for her. Also, how about working on nudibranchs or other macro subjects, maybe with a macro lens or even with just a magnifying glass, trying to locate the nudis, photograph, identify, and perhaps work to improve the small photos, since those small macro subjects can become highly interesting to most budding photographers?

 

[glamourpuss]

@tracydr: Thanks Tracy... I love nudis, unfortunately in Honduras we don't have a lot. Also she's just using a simple point a shoot, no macro lens. I agree that color and depth is something good to focus on. I thinking that dumpsterDiver's suggestion of taking an object and photographing it at different depths will help her understand the theory.

I'm having to constantly remind myself that she's only 12, but loving all the ideas, so keep em coming! You guys rock!~