In my previous article, Dive Training Evolution – Rule of Primacy, I talked about how diving instructors can utilize the rule of primacy to evolve dive training. In this article, I’ll discuss how we can use the principle of intensity to continue the evolution.

The principle of intensity states that what is learned must be intense enough to be retained. Uninteresting, yet essential precepts must be conveyed to the student diver with sufficient
intensity to ensure retention and use in day-to-day practice. Basically, a person will learn more from the real thing than from a substitute. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways we can use the principle of intensity when teaching scuba diving.

In the classroom
Intensity doesn’t have to come from extreme situations in order to get convey the urgency of what is being taught. When instructors put together lesson plans for their classes, important concepts or ideas contained in the presentations should emphasized by use of color, highlighting, underlining, or italicizing. The use of humor, irony, or incongruity is beneficial in creating dynamic and memorable concepts, which may easily be inserted into the student diver’s long-term memory. When discussing key concepts in scuba diving, the use of illustrations, brief stories, and most especially scuba diving equipment is especially valuable in enhancing the intensity of the subject matter. It is important to develop reasonable styles of conversation and analysis which maximize intensity in the presentation of otherwise dull materials and concepts. The classroom imposes limitations on the amount of realism that can be brought into teaching. The instructor needs to use imagination in approaching reality as closely as possible. Classroom instruction can benefit from a wide variety of instructional aids, to improve realism, motivate learning, and challenge students. Instructors should emphasize important points of instruction with gestures, showmanship, and voice. Demonstrations, skits, and role playing do much to increase the learning experience of students. Examples, analogies, and personal experiences also make learning come to life. For these very reasons, on-line scuba diving courses fail miserably when compared to the same courses taught by a knowledgeable instructor who has significant experience in scuba diving.

In the water
Today, in-water instruction can benefit from a wide variety of instructional aids to improve realism, motivate learning, and challenge students. When teaching new student divers, they first must be able to crawl before they walk and to walk before they can run. Starting off student divers on their knees at the bottom of a pool is fine in the beginning. However, as the student progresses, they must start to perform the skills under stress in a controlled environment. By combining skills, instructors can start to increase the level of intensity that the students experience. For example, in the open water class, students must demonstrate performing an air share ascent. Why not toss in there a mask removal at the same time? By slightly increasing the task loading, instructors can increase the intensity of the skills and thus watch the reaction of the students. Did they handle the extra task loading in a calm manner? What kind of decisions did they make when handling the added stress? In these task loading sessions, students can then be taught the thought process that must go on in order to successfully handle the events and to prevent them from getting worse. Many people do not like the practice of scuba instructors removing a students mask. However, this practice can be done safely, while in a controlled environment. If the practice is first introduced in a shallow pool, after much practice in mask removal and replacement, it can become much easier when the mask is taken in an open water environment.

Summary
The principle of intensity can become a very powerful teaching aid when utilized correctly. It leads to knowledge retention and stresses critical thinking in the student. It also can force the instructor to think creatively about how to teach the skills. This is the added benefit in that the instructor must continually review how they teach the skills in order to improve, or come up with more intense situations, to increase student learning.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving