1. Unit 4: Teaching Skin Diving
What is skin diving?
Scope of instruction
Academic curriculum
Skin diving skills
Instructor Materials: Teaching notes, Snorkeling for Kids material, NAUI Standards and Policies Manual.
INTRODUCTION
Attention step: Are skin diving skills useful to students training to be scuba divers?
Importance or Value: NAUI has always held that good, basic skin diving skills are an important part of becoming a competent and comfortable scuba diver. Moreover, snorkeling and breath-hold diving abilities are valuable in their own right, and NAUI has always sanctioned skin diving instruction. After all, breath-hold diving came first.
“So right shoulder snorkels, head for the beach and let Lloyd Bridges tell you all about underwater sports.” – from Hear How to Skin Dive, by Lloyd Bridges
Student Materials and Conduct: note taking material, text and workbook, and your undivided attention
Body: See presentation slides.
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2. Student Performance: By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
Explain why NAUI still values teaching and learning skin diving skills.
Distinguish between disciplines of snorkeling, skin diving, scuba air snorkeling and freediving.
List ways to market and implement profitable NAUI snorkeling, scuba air snorkeling and skin diving programs.
Explain how to simplify and present the academics of skin diving and make learning to skin dive fun.
List strategies for teaching and evaluating swimming, snorkeling and skin diving skills in confined and open water.
Performance Statement:
Describe to the students what, by the end of this lesson, will be expected of them, and to what degree.
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3. Skin Diving From snorkeling to competitive freediving
Scuba air snorkeling
Skin diving’s early importance to scuba training
Current requirement for skin diving training
From snorkeling to competitive freediving
From simple snorkeling with only brief, relatively shallow excursions below the surface, to breath-hold spearfishing, to competitive freediving – as challenging as technical scuba diving in many ways – skin diving is still the first choice of many for exploring the water world.
Scuba air snorkeling 
Scuba air snorkeling (SAS) is a bridge activity between snorkeling and scuba. The participant breathes air from a scuba regulator, but the scuba unit is attached to a personal floatation device that is designed to look like a buoyancy compensator and limits the participant to the surface.
Skin diving’s early importance to scuba training  
In the early days of scuba, strong mask, snorkel, and fin skills were absolutely essential. Scuba equipment was little more than a cylinder and regulator strapped to the diver’s back, with perhaps a small, orally inflated “safety vest.” Scuba classes devoted several confined water training sessions to developing fin swimming and breath-hold diving skills.
 Current requirement for skin diving training
As scuba equipment developed, the consolidated “scuba unit” greatly eased the physical demands of scuba diving, and skin diving skills began to receive less emphasis. Some agencies even declared skin diving entirely optional in scuba classes. NAUI still requires confined water introduction and development of skin diving skills in the NAUI Scuba Diver Course.
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4. Scope of Instruction NAUI Skin Diver Course
Course most likely taught by NAUI members
Resources for specialized or technical skin diver training
Teaching Opportunities
Scuba air snorkeling training
Course most likely taught by NAUI members
This unit examines teaching skin diving as covered by the NAUI Skin Diver Course. This is the course that NAUI Instructors and Skin Diving Instructors are most likely to conduct.
Resources for specialized or technical skin diver training  
Freediving, whether for spearfishing or in competition, is becoming more widely recognized, and increasing numbers of people are expressing an interest in the activity. It as a highly disciplined and technical pursuit. Anyone wishing to teach breath-hold diving courses at this level should acquire additional training within the freediving community first.
Teaching Opportunities
Because they are simple to organize and logistics are few, skin diving or SAS classes are perfect family courses that can be conducted at a homeowner’s backyard swimming pool. Adding a community outreach program that brings skin diving instruction conveniently into families at home is a great way to expand local markets.
Scuba air snorkeling training
Scuba air snorkeling is a fun pastime that is appropriate to persons of all ages who want to enjoy themselves in the water with the security of a permanent buoyancy aid.
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5. Academic curriculum Course sequence and requirements Risk awareness
Applied sciences
Skin diving equipment
Course sequence and requirements
The NAUI Skin Diving Course curriculum may be presented in any order appropriate to the individuals and the location of the course, modifying presentations, course structure, and methods as appropriate (consistent with NAUI Standards and Policies and the need of students).
Risk awareness
Skin diving students must understand the risks involved in the activity and accept these risks willingly. The parents or guardians of younger students must understand the risks involved in their child’s participation and grant written permission.
Risk awareness must be reinforced and reintroduced at every step in the program, especially in the move from confined to open water.
Applied sciences
Instructors do not need to get technical about terminology as long as students understand the direct effects, practical consequences, and how to avoid injury.
 Diving equipment 
Students need to learn the purpose, features, and types of skin diving equipment available. The objective is to help students select, use, and care for their equipment. NAUI recommends that young skin divers in particular wear a flotation device and/or a wetsuit when diving. Skin divers should learn to use these items during training.
DIVING SAFETY
Help students understand that skin diving is fun and involves little risk if safety rules and practices are followed.
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6. Skin Diving Skills Developing good skin diving skills
Swimming evaluations
Skills instruction
Progressive development
Evaluating performance skills
Rescue skills
Open water training
Skin diving skills
The development of good skin diving skills and safe practices is the most important aspect of the course.
Swimming evaluations
Swimming evaluations are usually conducted at the beginning of a course, but instructors should avoid pushing students too hard during early water skill sessions. Initial failures on perceived evaluations will lead to discouragement and dropouts.
Skills instruction
Progress developmentally from simpler to more challenging skills. Help students learn to safely extend breath-holding time by relaxing and resting properly between dives. Keep water sessions sufficiently short to prevent chilling or use exposure suits.
Evaluating performance skills
Evaluations are conducted only after effective student preparation and sufficient instruction. Use skill performance evaluations to help students progress to the next level of instruction and achieve certification.
Rescue skills 
Skin diving pupils must develop basic rescue skills. Students must be helped to understand that self-monitoring and realistic self-assessment are keys to safer skin diving.
Open water training 
Develop your on-site training plan based on needs, the conditions, and the group.
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7. End of Unit 4 Teaching Skin Diving
Scope of instruction
Academic curriculum
Skin diving skills
Transition Statement:
Skin diving courses can be a fulfilling and rewarding experience for both students and instructor. For younger students, it can be the beginning of a lifelong involvement with the water world. They are your potential future scuba divers.
Review of Main Points: See this presentation slide.
Emphasize Key Points:
Scope of Instruction
Skin diving skills
Ask Students for Questions:
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8. Student Performance: By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
Explain why NAUI still values teaching and learning skin diving skills.
Distinguish between disciplines of snorkeling, skin diving, scuba air snorkeling and free diving.
List ways to market and implement profitable NAUI snorkeling, scuba air snorkeling and skin diving programs.
Explain how to simplify and present the academics of skin diving and make learning to skin dive fun.
List strategies for teaching and evaluating swimming, snorkeling and skin diving skills in confined and open water.
Restate the student performance statements as questions:
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