Equipment Exchange
- Thread starter Bobby Demosthenis
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Hank49
Contributor
Have fun with it! When I did the gear exchange and we were all trying to figure out which little tricks to use, someone asked if it was unfair that we were trying to plan things out ahead of time. Our instructor told us that he was happy that we WERE thinking about it since that's the point of the exercise. You aren't supposed to practice because the gear switch is supposed to be a thinking exercise, to evaluate how well you can deal with complex situations!
No one will really admit it, but I think that the agencies want you to figure out what you can do to make the exercise more efficient/easier. In real life situations, you probably won't have a chance to practice, but you WILL have time to think through your options. Is it better to think through your options and respond with the most efficient method, or respond as quick as you can while possibly introducing more problems?
That being said, my entire class figured out what could be done to make the swap easier. Since then, I've gone back and done it under the most challenging conditions possible just to prove that I could do it, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the exercise. The equipment exchange is a problem. Respond to it in the best/most prepared way that you can.
It really is a fun little skill though! Our instructor would not let us know who we were going to be switching gear with until 5 minutes prior to starting the skill, so we couldn't plan too much in advance. Just go over the order that you are going to do things with your buddy and you will be fine. My buddy for the exercise was probably 150+lbs and a foot bigger than me and it still works. Our biggest problem ended up being that my fins would not physically fit on his feet so we had to jam them on as much as we could and go from there
No one will really admit it, but I think that the agencies want you to figure out what you can do to make the exercise more efficient/easier. In real life situations, you probably won't have a chance to practice, but you WILL have time to think through your options. Is it better to think through your options and respond with the most efficient method, or respond as quick as you can while possibly introducing more problems?
That being said, my entire class figured out what could be done to make the swap easier. Since then, I've gone back and done it under the most challenging conditions possible just to prove that I could do it, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the exercise. The equipment exchange is a problem. Respond to it in the best/most prepared way that you can.
It really is a fun little skill though! Our instructor would not let us know who we were going to be switching gear with until 5 minutes prior to starting the skill, so we couldn't plan too much in advance. Just go over the order that you are going to do things with your buddy and you will be fine. My buddy for the exercise was probably 150+lbs and a foot bigger than me and it still works. Our biggest problem ended up being that my fins would not physically fit on his feet so we had to jam them on as much as we could and go from there
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Perfect example!!! They talked about success and failures and then developed from there. None of them were ever succesful by burying their heads and hoping for the best outcome. The most successful will learn from others about right and wrong way to do things, then will solve problems when they do come up.
In a sense, but not with the order "Go catch some fish (or whatever). You've got five minutes to figure out how, and no hints!"
That's not how learning works, other than for animals with no higher mental functions. To train a rat, you just have to use reward and punishment (in other words "success" and "failure"); but humans have the capacity for abstract thinking, and therefore our learning is most effective when we use that faculty. Thinking through a problem and hypothesizing solutions which are then put into practice with the results being subsequently analyzed is an effective way to learn (or create solutions to problems). It's nothing like refusing to discuss the equipment exchange problem with a DMT and saying he'll really only learn if he is kept in the dark and not given any hints on how to think through the problem.
Hank49
Contributor
Except in this case, based on PADI's description of how THEY think it should be conducted, I think they want you to "reinvent the wheel" to see how well you can improvise.
Anyway, let's agree to disagree. In my field of work, it has been learning through many failures for the last 35 years. There was no one to learn from. We were the first to do it. People ask me how I learned so much and I tell them, "I've killed a lot of shrimp".
---------- Post Merged at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:17 AM ----------
And, as you acknowledged, there were many failures. It's part of the learning process. A lucky shot may win sometimes but it's not a good foundation for continued success.
Trial by fire works. Some of the best medical technology came form combat field hospitals.
Exactly and everyone of those advances came from people that had asked questions before the incident and then furthered the information they were given into something better. None of them didn't ask questions and then hoped for the best outcome. So the OP asked for tips, he/she gets tips and figures out the other problems when they come up, because they will come up. Doctors, scientist, engineers, ect, all discover in this exact way.
Hank49
Contributor
"sigh..." go back and read PADI's Guide to teaching. Argue it with them.
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