USING dive tables during OW course.

[Lorenzoid]

The problem with technology is that we are far to quick to do away with the manual way of doing things for the sake of technology. I am not saying we do not - not use technology, but it is crucial that we retain the other knowledge as well. My profession deals pretty much solely with computers and I am sad to say I see this trend all over the place. We are quickly becoming a "Click and drag" society that does not want to learn why things do what they do, but just that they do what we expect them to do. What happens when this system breaks and their is no one left who understands the foundations and we are unable to fix them.

I once read an article that basically said, one of the main reasons there were no new moon landings in the past decade was partly because there was no one left around who knew how to use the computer where all the calculations were stored. Could be true, could also be untrue - but it does make you think.

Rick Cook has a great Quote that was Goolgles Quote of the Day not all that long ago:

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe is trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

I truly believe we are doing a disservice to our students if we are not training them on all the foundations.

I agree with the general idea that people should learn the foundations that underlie the technology they are using, but I don't believe that dive tables represent a foundation or principles.

The exact same principles that underlie dive tables underlie dive computers. Haldane didn't invent the principles, he just invented a way to apply them that was amenable to pencil-and-paper calculations. Tables and computers are both tools that are based on the same principles. The practical difference is that tables are discrete (so as to enable easy pencil-and-paper calculations) while computers are continuous. My point is only that we should be teaching the principles underlying tables and computers and, since everyone is using computers now, making sure we also teach the rudiments of how a computer applies these principles. But whether one sees his nitrogen loading in terms of a bar graph or in terms of a letter group makes little difference to whether one understands the foundations/principles involved.

Edited: I was typing this before Thalassamania's post appeared. I agree 100%.

 

[Dthomas]

I am just saying we are relying too much on technology. If we teach reliance on technology what do we do when that technology fails. USFpsychDiver commented about the use of slide-rules when we have calculators. Yes a calculator is easier but I also find it really sad that people today need a calculator to add 2 + 2. We are teaching a society to not think for themselves but rather let a computer do it for you.

 

[phoenix31tt]

I am just saying we are relying too much on technology. If we teach reliance on technology what do we do when that technology fails. USFpsychDiver commented about the use of slide-rules when we have calculators. Yes a calculator is easier but I also find it really sad that people today need a calculator to add 2 + 2. We are teaching a society to not think for themselves but rather let a computer do it for you.

this discussion can go on for ages, reliance on technology or no... so maybe thats a topic for another thread.. or another forum for that matter lol...

but IMHO relying technology does not teach you "not to think".. it allows you to think more about other things while the computer handles the basic routine stuff... the none-routine stuff we have to figure that all out for ourselves...

back on topic.. i agree that once the student understands decompression theory, table or computer makes not a difference...

 

[Lorenzoid]

Back on topic, I think it's great that the OP wants his son to actually use a table while on the boat between dives. I've never heard of that being done in an OW course, but then again, I'm neither an instructor nor one who has been diving since the Dark Ages. The image of father and son poring over a dive table out on a boat ... heartwarming and nostalgic like a Normal Rockwell painting

 

[DivemasterDennis]

in answer to the op's original question, there is nothing wrong with his thinking. I agree with him. Every diver should be proficient on planning dives with an RDP. Use of the tables in dive planning and post dive off gassing time calculation creates and awareness of ndl's generally, and makes the proficient table user a safer diver. Hey, I dive with a computer on every dive, but I still calculate RNT, etc., especially on training dives as I teach others to do the same.
DivemasterDennis