Info Why are tables not taught in OW classes anymore?

[EdC]

I know this sounds like an ***hole answer but, I don’t have a landline or an abacus because there is something better and easier to use.

I get that a lot of divers who learned on tables are nostalgic about them, and if they get a feeling of security using them, that’s good.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

With either computers or tables, the worrisome bit for me is the lowest common denominator.

E.g., you can pass an exam on tables getting 80% correct. That's not the success rate I'd want actually diving. I have no trouble reading tables, but I'm a math/logic geek and have more trouble with words and sentences than numbers, graphs and tables.

Similarly, as was pointed out earlier, some people don't even know how their computer works.

Either situation can get somebody hurt or killed....

 

[stiebs]

I whole-heartedly agree with @tursiops view the practical application of tables in a real world diving scenario. However I disagree that with the view that there is no value in teaching tables in OW.

PADI course material still includes tables (it also still refers to the eRDP, but that's a different argument altogher!!), and I think that's a good thing.

Even if there is no reasonable practical diving application for square profile tables, it is a good learning process for new divers to understand what a computer does behind the scenes. And working through some hypothetical multiple dive scenarios on tables paints a pretty clear picture on how depth, bottom time and surface interval effect your limits on subsequent dives.

 

[VikingDives]

I used to work for a shop that only used tables for open water classes. I used to get about 50% of my students to take AOW, and of those, I can't remember one that retained how to use the tables in the 14 days that passed between their last OW dive and their first AOW dive.

Tables were a smart solution to a problem that shouldn't exist anymore. I don't miss teaching them at all.

 

[TMHeimer]

I used to work for a shop that only used tables for open water classes. I used to get about 50% of my students to take AOW, and of those, I can't remember one that retained how to use the tables in the 14 days that passed between their last OW dive and their first AOW dive.

Tables were a smart solution to a problem that shouldn't exist anymore. I don't miss teaching them at all.

Yes. I too would totally forget how to use tables after 14 days. That's why I do a problem daily taken from the batch of samples I collected during OW course in 2005. On alternate days I do a Nitrox table one. Of course, I have nothing better to do for those 2 minutes it takes in my old age...
Yet there are those who take CPR every 2 years, don't review ever it and feel they are qualified to do it.

 

[USdiver1]

Today, dive tables are rarely taught in OW classes. True or not, they have pretty much gone away for recreational diving. Few know how to use dive tables, and they can easily be used incorrectly.

This is just plain sad. I learned on tables and dove them exclusively for over 35 years. They are not hard to master and do not suffer from battery failure during a dive. Not only can I dive without a computer, but I also can and do dive without a BCD. There is much to like diving vintage equipment.

 

[Lorenzoid]

This is just plain sad. I learned on tables and dove them exclusively for over 35 years. They are not hard to master and do not suffer from battery failure during a dive. Not only can I dive without a computer, but I also can and do dive without a BCD. There is much to like diving vintage equipment.

Until you mentioned it, I hadn't thought of tables as vintage diving equipment. But they are. If someone is using tables simply because they get a kick out of that, the way some divers get a kick out of diving ancient regulators or without a BC, then I say go for it. "Going vintage" is about the only reason to use tables.

As for battery failure during a dive, what modern computer does not have an indicator that gives the diver plenty of warning that the battery is getting low? My Shearwater even accepts a variety of batteries and automatically detects what kind I put in. There's just no reason for going computer-less unless doing "vintage diving" is the reason.

 

[Bigbella]

Why are tables not taught in OW classes anymore?

Well, probably for the same reason that I was saddled with a year of physics while in college, while some twerp from the lit department with what would now be considered a "man bun" and kombucha-borne halitosis, was taking -- wait for this, "Physics for Poets" -- "all of the fascinating cosmological concepts without the difficult math," as the course catalogue had once described.

"We're both taking physics," he once chimed, during some throwaway class we all had in common. After having just pulled an all-nighter for an exam on electromagnetism or whatever the hell it was at the time, I could have just killed him.

It's plain that no one wants to get blindsided by the maths, nowadays, even if those numbers are benign as a skin tag and presented as a simplistic-as-hell chart, which takes less than a minute to explain to anyone sporting a brainstem.

On a more encouraging note, my niece’s current CSU open-water course insisted upon teaching dive tables . . .

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Today, dive tables are rarely taught in OW classes because they are tedious to use, and give considerably less information than your dive computer. However, many argue that dive tables help you to understand the on-gassing/off-gassing better, because they don’t bury everything into a small electronic device with just a (sometimes) complicated display on the front. True or not, they have pretty much gone away for recreational diving. Few know how to use dive tables, and they can easily be used incorrectly.

Great write up! I no longer actively teach but when I did..... tables were a required part of the curriculum, computers were very basic, and enriched air was not nearly as common as it is now. Remember the GIANT (like 3ft X 5ft) dive table card in front of the class. Even when bottom timers came out on the old Sherwood bricks, I thought that was the cats pajamas.

My personal opinion is that the part I highlighted in bold above is an extremely important and very valid point. Teaching tables provides a more comprehensive overall conceptual understanding of the on-gassing and off - gassing process. It's kinda like understanding and "working" a long division problem instead of just punching the numbers into a calculator on your phone to get the answer. People might say...... "why learn long division when I can just use my phone's calculator". My answer would be....."hey a pencil really can't fail and if it does you can just draw in the dirt with a stick."

As to the VERY solid point of carrying a backup computer, I couldn't agree more.....and for all the reasons stated by the OP. For that purpose, my back-up is an older "puck" style. It's small and basic but still provides important data if my primary fails..... and a backup is basically a requirement for solo diving.

The other thing I think worth mentioning is that a back-up not only provides important nitrogen loading and unloading data for both your current and subsequent dives...... but it also provides critically important depth and ascent rate data that would also be unavailable if your primary computer dies. This is crucial in a low or no vis scenario where a blue water ascent with any stops may be needed.

When diving, especially solo...... I'm an old school Eagle Scout and like to "Be Prepared". Even on my DSMB line I have colored tape marking 50ft and 20ft... just in case my primary and my back-up computers fail.

Anyway..... to respond to the OP's original topic. I personally think learning and understanding tables is a positive thing!

 

[Doc]

Is there anyway around being in the “penalty box” for a day? Yes, there are two ways, one is certain, one is problematic.

#3) After a trip to the Truk Steamroller, i saw a diver hang her puter over the side on a long string.

My wife had a different take. Her first WWPF 150 dives, doing 3-5/day, she had a Puck, but she always ran her tables, somehow ignoring the “you’re now dead, go to penalty box” thingie on her flip-it table.

And this is why tables are not taught any more in most OW classes. They do not suit the kind of diving that recreational divers do.

You could have said that, been done, and i’d have agreed, but your logic path was well done and inarguable.

I suggest an edit to add before publication

The thought process to this short lived widget should not be ignored… (if the true useful contribution to “understanding the math” can trump the way too easy PADI bashing that most seize upon)

SB attracts an interesting readership. The more experienced or more broadly educated group that understands your logic, but…I believe the bulk of divers (and readers?) are WWPF, and the SB audience of WWPF “new kids” are not ready to understand your long view, as correct as I might agree that it is.

Your explanation is valid, historical, but esoteric. (Works for me) Computers are more cooler (CDI Factor) especially if they’re Teric Shearwaters worn to dinner at the Club Med or the LOB.