Is horizontal position really better?

[Centrals]

1. Far too many students are still taught all skills while kneeling and fully upright.
2. Far too many of the instructors who teach that way to not spend much time at all with students actually swimming while neutrally buoyant, either in the pool or in the OW--the focus is just on the kneeling skills. Once the skills are done, the class is over.
3. In order to teach students on their knees, the students must be significantly overweighted, or they will bounce around, tip over, etc.
4. Trim weights are rarely used, so all that overweighting is on the hips.
5. The overwighted divers need significant air to become neutral. With jacket BCDs, that will be on the upper body.

Summary: Students were taught to dive in an upright position, and when diving overweighted with weight on the hips and compensating buoyancy on the upper part of the body, the diver will naturally be in a legs down position.

I do not believe any agency advocates any of that, but that is what is happening as a natural consequence of focusing OW instruction on teaching basic skills on the knees.

So who fault is it?
Certainly not the students.
So how can anyone blame the end products.

 

[MichaelMc]

4. Trim weights are rarely used, so all that overweighting is on the hips.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^.

In many cases, trim pockets are not part of the gear setup. Making the use of trim weights a non starter. Including in rental gear.

 

[boulderjohn]

Instructor would not be able to change much if it is not required in the syllabus.

So who fault is it?
Certainly not the students.

The fault lies with the individual instructors who are continuing to teach the way it was done a decade ago.

I don't know about all other agencies, but I know PADI and SDI are strongly encouraging neutral buoyancy instruction. As a PADI instructor, I have been highly frustrated that they are not moving faster, but they are definitely moving that way. The changes in the OW course made about 8 years ago made some significant changes, and they are requiring teaching of skills neutrally buoyant with new instructors. In a recent SDI webinar, the speaker said neutral buoyancy instruction was required by SDI, but that does not seem to be the case yet.

On a recent FaceBook diving group posting, a dive shop advertised for OW instruction, and the picture showed all the students on their knees. I commented on that of course, and they were quite huffy about not getting on the bandwagon of some new fad. In saying that, they showed they have paid little to no attention to what their agency has been telling them for the last decade.

 

[Celt]

I think on a flat silty bottom a horizontal trim is an advantage but that's about it. Where a horizontal trim really comes into its own is in the swimming pool, preferably in front of a camera or a captive audience of new divers. There the demonstrator, like a model on a catwalk, can really strut their stuff.

 

[MichaelMc]

I think on a flat silty bottom a horizontal trim is an advantage but that's about it.

What about a reef where you want to look at the invertebrates underneath you?

And if your answer is "head down trim is best there", head down is not the issue, feet down is the issue. And the inability to be anything but feet down for any but the briefest of moments when short lived effort is expended and quickly abandoned as too much work. Leading to a kicked up or destroyed bottom.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I don't know about all other agencies, but I know PADI and SDI are strongly encouraging neutral buoyancy instruction.

Encouraging isn't enough. Mandating is what is required. Many will shoot for the lowest common denominator, that's why the buck stops with the agency. While some instructors across all agencies are professionals and will exceed their respective agencies' requirements, there are many who will not. Therein lies the problem.

 

[Centrals]

Huge difference between encourage and mandate in real life. How many drivers were using seat belt before it has became law? There are still drivers not using one!!!
I would like to see any agency to include certain safety equipment as standard.

Signaling Devices | PADI

Signaling devices are an important part of scuba safety. Visual and audible signalling devices help scuba divers be seen and heard if they need assistance.

www.padi.com

 

[billgraham]

To be clear, students learn only what an instructor or mentor teaches and practices. Change the instructors' outlook and you've changed diving.

For me, it was seeing a photo of myself next to some cave divers, when I was first learning to dive!

 

[Wibble]

Agencies eh!

Who you trained with really has sod all to do with anything; it's whether or not you've been constantly improving your skills subsequently.

In any case, the beginner skills taught to most divers are fine for... beginners. Those who stick to it and learn how to dive will have changed beyond all recognition from them as beginners.

All training does is set you up to develop your own way of doing things. Some people do that with almost intransigent zeal in synchronised team diving. Others have a very independent approach.

But we all hate crap divers who don't give a damn and kick the living daylights out of the environment; the inconsiderate divers.

 

[boulderjohn]

Encouraging isn't enough. Mandating is what is required. Many will shoot for the lowest common denominator, that's why the buck stops with the agency. While some instructors across all agencies are professionals and will exceed their respective agencies' requirements, there are many who will not. Therein lies the problem.

Most of the problem has nothing to do with seeking the lowest common denominator--it a simple unwillingness to change. It happens in all walks of life.

I learned this years ago as a school teacher. I tried some innovative teaching strategies that were being recommended, and I was stunned at the difference in student achievement. After a couple of years,, my full time job became working in central administration, teaching teachers how to make those changes themselves. The resistance to change was shocking. In many cases, it took the form of open hostility.

IIRC, it was around 1970 that education researcher John Goodlad published a clear description of the problem. His initial goal was to see which instructional programs were the most effective. Previous researchers (especially Coleman) had compared instructional programs by comparing the achievements of schools that had adopted different programs and discovered that there didn't seem to be any real difference. Goodlad did it differently--he went into the actual classrooms and observed the teachers. What he discovered was that it did not matter what instructional program the school had implemented. Once the door of the classroom was closed, many and perhaps most of the teachers just did what they had always done before, ignoring the adopted program.

Other researchers found that classroom teachers tend to teach their students the way they were taught themselves, regardless of any training to the contrary they may have received.

Research by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University showed that the open resistance by only a couple of teachers was enough to derail all reform efforts within that building.

Why would scuba instruction be any different?