Hi! I need your help with my research

[pintafish]

Hello everyone! My name is Blossom, and I'm currently studying Global Sustainable Development in the UK.

As part of my studies in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick, I'm conducting a research project on the “Impacts of environmental communications on the long-term adaptation of pro-environmental behaviours in Scuba Divers”. Scuba divers of all proficiency levels, aged 18 and above are invited to participate in this research study. The survey will take approximately 5 minutes, and seeks to gather comprehensive perspectives from the diving community.

Details of the research will be included in the link below, it should give you information about what this will involve, but please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.

Your contribution is invaluable, and we sincerely thank you for participating in the study. Please note that, your insights play a crucial role in advancing our understanding on the relationship between environmental communications and pro-environmental behaviours.

Your participation matters! i'm hoping that this can offer new perspectives and strategies for promoting environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviours within the scuba diving industry, which will potentially be applicable to a broader spectrum in society

Click the link below to learn more and contribute: https://qualtricsxmpqmylwlh7.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0TUBN7SM0FlxjAG

Done! I look forward to reading your research findings.

 

[Pressurehead]

Done! I look forward to reading your research findings.

Ditto.

 

[Pumpkin King]

Done!

 

[sea_ledford]

Probably too late, but adding a question on when training was conducted, would probably be insightful. I did my initial training in the 90's when overfishing, and overpopulation were the primary environmental concerns.

 

[arew+4]

Done.
I got certified in 1990, there was concern then among divers about the future of the tropical reefs, and fish populations as a whole, but I do not remember it being a part of the curriculum.

Back then, there weren't nearly as many old-timers saying "you should have seen it 25 or 30 years ago" unfortunately I'm now one of many of them.

 

[lowwall]

I did the survey. It was not made explicit, but I assumed that by training, you were referring to OW/AOW training? I based my answers on that assumption. If you meant every cert card I've picked up, the answers would be almost completely different as I did Science of Diving over 20 years after that initial training.

Maybe you could make it clear in the survey? You probably also should ask how long ago the training was done.

BTW, have you looked at the OW dive manuals over the time period you are interested in? Those are going to be far more reliable evidence of the information given during training than our memories of something that may have occurred decades ago.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was a scuba instructor for years. One of the key concepts in the design of introductory scuba instruction is interference theory. Put simply, the idea is that time and effort that is spent learning things you don't need to know in order to meet with success in the course interferes with your ability to learn what you do need to know. The key design theory in curriculum development is to design instruction so that essential learnings are the primary focus, things that are good to know to know are given lesser importance, and things the student does not need to know to be successful are eliminated.

The goal of initial scuba instruction is to create divers who are safe and confident under water. You will have a hard time convincing scuba agencies that they should be devoting hours of instructional time to recycling, pollution, etc. as important as those topics may be.

The world's largest training organization, PADI, is very much interested in these things, but it has nothing about it in the initial training. Once students have become part of the community of divers, it brings in those issues through a variety of methods, including what it calls Project Aware.

 

[USdiver1]

Survey completed. Again, I too am a diver trained in the 1970s. No mention of environmental impact / climate change at that time [some even believed we were about to enter a new ice age in the 1970s].

Hey, hey, my, my....

 

[blossomlyt]

Done!

Thank you very much!!

 

[blossomlyt]

I was a scuba instructor for years. One of the key concepts in the design of introductory scuba instruction is interference theory. Put simply, the idea is that time and effort that is spent learning things you don't need to know in order to meet with success in the course interferes with your ability to learn what you do need to know. The key design theory in curriculum development is to design instruction so that essential learnings are the primary focus, things that are good to know to know are given lesser importance, and things the student does not need to know to be successful are eliminated.

The goal of initial scuba instruction is to create divers who are safe and confident under water. You will have a hard time convincing scuba agencies that they should be devoting hours of instructional time to recycling, pollution, etc. as important as those topics may be.

The world's largest training organization, PADI, is very much interested in these things, but it has nothing about it in the initial training. Once students have become part of the community of divers, it brings in those issues through a variety of methods, including what it calls Project Aware.

Thank you very much for your insights! And I totally agree that the design of the curriculum should focus on learning the skills required since safety is always the number one priority. But at the same time, I do think "environmental communications" can be done in an informal setting outside the classroom. I learned to appreciate the environmental after my OW training mainly because of how passionate my instructors were, and that's how I got into sustainability. So, just maybe more guidelines can be provided in debriefing/ boat ride back (to minimise the impact on the streamlined curriculum), which may have significant impact on diver's behaviours.

While this is the main motivation behind my research, I do hope that the findings of the research can be applied in a broader spectrum in society as well. It will contribute to the understanding of how nature-based environmental communications might be more effective than others, which might help develop future policies in education outside of scuba!