1. Unit 16: Teaching Theory and Instructional Techniques
Learning and Teaching
Water Class Management
Lesson Planning
Instructor Materials: Teaching notes, NAUI Standards and Policies Manual.
INTRODUCTION
Attention step: All NAUI leaders instruct divers, whether in the role of primary or sole instructor, or by assisting in a class, conducting diving excursions, or guest teaching segments of certification courses. Every dive briefing and debriefing, whether delivered by a divemaster in training to Scuba Diver students or an instructor leading a vacation dive, for instance, is a kind of lesson.
Importance or Value: A diving leader’s behavior and perceived attitudes are also profound instructional tools. Though only active-status Instructors can teach certification courses, using effective instructional techniques engenders more effective leadership at all levels and increases a leader’s ability to influence people to strive for safer diving.
“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” – Thomas Carruthers
“The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
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 the learning and teaching process.
Explain testing, evaluation, and achievement.
List and define the Laws of Learning.
Describe the factors that enhance learning.
Describe methods for effective oral communications.
Describe training aids and tell how they can enhance communication.
Explain how to teach swimming and diving in confined and open water.
Prepare lesson plans for classroom, 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. Learning and Teaching Learning:
“A measurable change in an individual’s behavior or attitude.”
“A change in behavior based on experience.”
Bloom’s taxonomy
Identifies three overlapping domains important in the learning process:
Knowledge
Attitude
Skills
Defining Learning
In psychology learning is defined as an identifiable/observable change in an individual’s behavior or attitude that is the result of either outside stimulation, or the re-synthesis of previously acquired information. Webster’s dictionary defines learning as acquiring new knowledge, developing a new skill or technique from systematic study. NAUI has defined it succinctly as, “a change in behavior based on experience.”
Synthesizing old information in a new way begins to explore a hierarchy of learning outcomes first articulated with the publication by Benjamin Bloom of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Bloom’s taxonomy, first articulated in 1956, is a learning/teaching taxonomy that identifies three overlapping domains of intellectual behavior important in the learning process. The domains were the cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitude) and psychomotor (physical skills). Bloom’s group identified six levels within the cognitive domain to characterize how acquired knowledge is demonstrated, from simple recall up to use of complex intellectual skills such as problem solving or pattern recognition. Later in 1964, work was completed on levels within the affective. Other researchers and educators went on to complete the definition of psychomotor taxonomies in the 1970s.
Instruction in scuba diving seeks to produce outcomes that span all the learning domains and levels of learning as defined in the works of Bloom and others.
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4. Bloom’s taxonomy
Cognitive Domain
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5. Bloom’s taxonomy
Affective Domain
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6. Bloom’s taxonomy
Psychomotor Domain
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7. Learning and Teaching (continued)
“Purposeful activities that aid an individual’s learning.”
Testing and evaluation
Foster effective learning and achievement.
Class focus
The student is the most important person in any class.
Defining Teaching
Instruction and teaching are purposeful activities that aid peoples’ learning. Instruction and teaching employ tools and techniques that are consistent with and apply fundamental principles such as Bloom’s taxonomy and the Laws of Learning.
Good teaching guides students’ efforts, enabling them to learn more efficiently and, especially in the case of scuba diving, more safely.
Testing, Evaluation, and Achievement
The goal of NAUI testing and evaluation is to foster more enjoyable and effective learning, as well as better teaching. Evaluations focus on helping all students first achieve, then exceed minimum competency levels as set in current NAUI diving course standards.
Complex physical skills and diverse ideas of diving knowledge are best acquired by students who learn, practice, and develop techniques over time, and then use and expand their knowledge throughout their training (over-learning).
Class Focus
The most important person in any diving class is the student. An instructor’s primary goal is to help students become successful divers in the most beneficial and enjoyable way possible. Concurrently, all NAUI members strive to foster safer, more enjoyable and environmentally sensitive diving.
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8. Learning and Teaching (continued)
The “laws of learning“
Readiness: students will learn best when physically and mentally ready.
Intensity: increased sensory input increases learning.
Primacy: first learned is best remembered.
Exercise: skills are only truly learned through participation and practice.
Effect: Students learn best when they perceive the material as real and useful.
Recency: that which is most recently learned is more easily recalled.
The Laws of Learning
Each individual learns differently, but all learning activities have certain common factors. The “laws” of learning, they are actually observations based on study of the learning process. First described by Edward Thorndike a century ago, they have been modified and added to by succeeding generations of educators and behavioral psychologists. By considering these factors throughout each course, you can create more effective learning experiences and better divers.
Readiness: Students will learn best when physically and mentally ready.
Intensity: Increased sensory input increases learning. Vivid, entertaining word images, imaginative training aids, and dramatic presentations and demonstrations enhance student enjoyment and improve learning.
Primacy: First learned is best remembered. A lesson or skill should be taught correctly the first time.
Exercise: Skills are only truly learned through participation and practice. Learning will be strengthened by repetition.
Effect: The best learning is real and useful and thereby satisfying to the student. Students who know that what they are learning enables them to do something tangible will retain more and be more motivated to progress.
Recency: That which is most recently learned is more easily recalled. Summarizing presentations and emphasizing key points improves student learning.
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9. Learning and Teaching (continued)
Factors that enhance learning
Oral communication
Preparing to communicate
Getting started
Using the “tools of the trade”
voice, eyes, hands and body
Factors That Enhance Learning
Your students’ learning is a combination of receiving information and skill training combined with repetitive practice and reinforcement.
Oral Communication
Whether you are delivering a lesson on scuba equipment or a pre-dive briefing, good communication skills will improve the outcome.
Preparing to Communicate
Review your lesson plan and become completely familiar with the material and its organization. Get yourself and the facility ready ahead of time. And realize that feeling excited is perfectly normal and can help keep you sharp and enthusiastic.
Getting Started
Start on time! Use an attention getting method, such as asking a provocative question that is related to the subject.
Using the “Tools of the Trade”
Use their voice in different ways to gain and maintain attention. Use the three “P’s”: pitch, pace, and pause.
Scan your audience. Regularly ask questions about the subject of the presentation to get and keep students involved in the lesson.
Develop an awareness of your body language and gestures so that they enhance rather than distract from your presentation. Establishing rapport with your students is largely dependant on your demeanor and behavior.
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10. Learning and Teaching (continued)
Training aids
Reinforce a point
Increase the intensity of the experience
Use it and then put it away
Training aids
Training aids reinforce a point, increase retention of material presented, clarify abstract concepts, and foster higher levels of class participation and interest. Training aids work by increasing the intensity of the experience for participants. Aids can include realia (actual dive equipment, etc.), handouts, chalkboards and white boards, posters, slides, models, audiovisual material, and many other forms. There are some simple guidelines:
When you’ve finished using or presenting a training aid, put it away, turn it off, or erase it.
Practice with your training aids in a full dress rehearsal.
If handouts contain supplemental information it is better to distribute them at the end of the lesson so that students aren’t distracted by them.
Oversized mock-ups of depth gauges, Cartesian divers, and other in-classroom experiments and lab work can be powerful learning activities when caution and common sense are used.
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11. Learning and Teaching (continued)
Empathy
Goals and motivation
Reinforcement
Pacing
Empathy
The ability to experience the feelings of another person and to see and hear from their perspective, is an important quality of the effective instructor. Empathy can only result from genuine effort to understand the difficulties others may be experiencing.
Goals and Motivation
Establish reasonable goals and support a student’s motives to create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Appropriate goals present a level of difficulty sufficient to challenge students while simultaneously allowing them to succeed at the first try.
Reinforcement
Learning is more permanent when it is reinforced. We learn from our successes, not our mistakes. Success is fostered by skillful instruction.
Pacing
Changes of activity that alternate mental and physical tasks refresh students, enhancing learning. Proper pacing permits periods of relaxation, activity changes, and developmental progression.
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12. Learning and Teaching (continued)
Continuity
Relaxation and performance
Physical awareness and sensitivity
Physical surroundings
Anxiety and fear
Continuity
Logical continuity can avoid many hampering plateaus and reduce learning delays. Root skills can be learned and subsequently built into more complex patterns. Dive activities, too, need to be organized so that tasks and activities flow smoothly from one segment to the next.
Relaxation and Performance
A sense of relaxation and efficiency in the water is fundamental to teaching people to dive. This ability can be developed and sharpened through practice, demonstration, and discussion in a thoughtfully paced program.
Physical Awareness and Sensitivity
Many students and infrequent or poorly trained divers may be unaware of their bodies. Skill instructional methods and teaching techniques require internal feedback and developing kinesthetic awareness.
Physical Surroundings
Sites for teaching should enhance student comfort and thereby help learning.
Anxiety and Fear
Properly handled, anxiety and fear can actually enhance learning. Low intensity anxiety can actually aid learning by sharpening motivation and creating a more attentive and receptive orientation. Beyond mild apprehension, fear can disrupt skill learning and lead to dangerous, uncontrolled behavior.
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13. Water Class Management
Surface teaching
Safety and communication
Class positioning is important to the learning process
Line-up
Semicircular
Instructor centered
Water Class Management
The mechanics of water class management are dictated by two considerations: safety and communication. The instructor and leadership staff should always be in a position to render immediate assistance.
Conduct classes away from distractions, environmental dangers, and otherwise unsuitable surroundings. Students must be comfortable, secure, and eager.
Surface Teaching
Class arrangement can have considerable impact on the learning process. There are many teacher-student formations that can be effective. Placement of assistants is also important.
Line-up: Students in a line and the instructor facing them in front.
Utilizing a corner in a swimming pool with the class lining two sides and forming a “V” with the instructor facing the group provides optimum group control.
Semicircular: Students half-surrounding the instructor. Creates a feeling of togetherness and sharing.
Instructor-centered: Instructor surrounded on all sides. A good method when used by talented communicators. Beware of keeping your back to the same people. Instructor as part of a circle has a less intimidating effect on students.
Free form: No line up or ordering of students or instructor. Promotes great personal rapport although there are inherent limitations to this method.
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14. Water Class Management (continued)
Evaluating and teaching swimming skills
Crawl stroke
Breaststroke
Elementary backstroke
Sidestroke
Evaluating and Teaching Swimming Skills
NAUI certified scuba divers must demonstrate the ability to swim and also to sustain themselves at the surface with a survival floating/swimming or water treading technique. Comfort and self-confidence are necessary for students to be considered competent to engage in open water diving activities without supervision and be awarded certification.
To qualify for certification a prospective NAUI diver must demonstrate forward movement using any basic stroke or a combination thereof. If students can achieve forward progress and sustain a continuous stroke cycle using only the limb or limbs that have mobility, those with temporary or permanent disabilities may also meet this certification requirement.
A horizontal body position that minimizes drag and careful, streamlined stroke technique that mitigates resistance and drag are universal elements of effective swimming strokes and stroke mechanics. NAUI Instructors should be familiar with the the basic swimming strokes and able to teach students to perform them properly.
Crawl Stroke
Breaststroke
Elementary Backstroke
Sidestroke
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15. Crawl Stroke
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16. Breaststroke
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17. Elementary Backstroke
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18. Sidestroke
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19. Water Class Management (continued)
Underwater teaching
Positioning is important for safety and control
Follow me
Call down
Class first, instructor following
Instructor first, watching class
Instructor and buddy pairs in turn
UNDERWATER TEACHING
It is usually better to have trained assistants positioned to observe the class, maintaining extra vigilance.
Instructors’ judgment determines method used to take a class underwater, based on environment, student readiness, comfort level, and competence:
Follow me: Instructor leading and guiding a class through situations or illustrations underwater.
Call down: Instructor on the bottom issuing signals. During initial open water training dives, competent supervisors must accompany students throughout their descent.
Class first with the instructor following: Allows observation from the rear. Requires qualified assistants at the head of the group.
Instructor first, calling entire class down at once: Permits the instructor to see the entire class or a singled-out student in a more natural environment.
Instructor and buddy pairs in turn: Used for skill evaluations while assistants run non-graded surface drills or games.
A well-organized class will make learning much less confusing for the students. Leaders working in the field with certified divers must also decide on the most effective means of directing planned activities.
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20. Water Class Management (continued)
Progression
Exercises
Skill demonstration
Using demonstrations well
“I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand.”
Progression
Sequential tasks act as building blocks for one another. Generally speaking, all structured knowledge and physical skills are best taught in this way. New information is best absorbed when there is a background into which new details can fit. The more smoothly building block components can be made to interlock, the more sound the progression, and the more effective the resultant learning. In the early stages of a diving training program, progressions should be small in scale, easily covered, well-defined in logical, sequential stages, and continually presenting attainable objectives, will ensure success.
Exercises
Exercises must relate directly to the skill and ability level at which the instructor is concentrating and use only skills already acquired.
Skill Demonstration
Demonstrations communicate movements directly to a learner, largely bypassing the conscious thought process. Demonstrated skills must be performed crisply, properly, and in a polished manner.
Using Demonstrations Well
Better learning is assured when practice and coaching directly follow good demonstrations.
“An old but true homily says: I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand.”
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21. Water Class Management (continued)
Demonstration quality skills
Camaraderie and competition
Imaging and self-concept
Intrapersonal communication
Demonstration Quality Skills
Excellent diving skills are a necessity for achieving NAUI membership because they are the basis of this important teaching method.
Camaraderie and Competition
A diving class is a social occasion. Try to structure class breaks so that there is actually an activity underway, yet still address the necessity of providing a little social downtime.
Friendly competition can also be woven into the fabric of the learning environment. This is best accomplished in duels between groups rather than between individuals
Imaging and Self-concept
Imaging uses mental pictures to aid skill acquisition and improved performance. To retain accuracy and effect, images must be constantly refreshed. Visual rehearsal is one form of this practice. Role-playing is another.
Intrapersonal Communication
To a great extent we are who we think we are, and we can do what we think we can. Good instructional planning and pacing, that which intersperses effort with the rewards of success and reinforcement, can help build students’ self-image throughout a class. Each goal achieved improves self-image. Careful selection of exercises, water depths, environmental conditions, remedial tasks, and supportive observation facilitate achievement and enjoyment.
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22. Lesson planning “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
Benefits of Lesson Planning
Modern Lesson Planning
The acronym TOM I PASTA
Benefits of Lesson Planning
Being prepared, organized, and in control increases instructor confidence and student safety. These are the first casualties of instructors teaching without a comprehensive lesson plan. Comprehensive lesson plans can be purchased from NAUI Worldwide. Ready-to-use lesson plans can be reviewed and adjusted or modified to meet local circumstances. It is in these adjustments that NAUI members enjoy the unique privilege of “Academic Freedom.”
Modern Lesson Planning
Modern lesson preparation borrows heavily from advances made by the U.S. military, which responded to the needs of a nation at war in 1941.
The acronym TOM I PASTA
was developed early on by military trainers and used to recall the necessary components of a complete lesson plan. It stands for Title, Objectives, Main Points, Introduction, Presentation, Application, Summary, Test, and Assignment. The lesson outlines in the current NAUI instructor guides reveal a similarity to this traditional approach.
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23. Lesson planning (continued)
Lesson planning from scratch
Establishing objectives
“If you’re not sure where you’re going, you’re liable to end up someplace else.”
Components of a learning objective
Performance
Conditions
Standard
Lesson planning from scratch,
which NAUI members do when developing “Instructor Specified Specialty Courses,” requires adherence to some fundamental steps in order to produce quality results. After determining the topic and subtopics, generally, it starts by asking the question, “What must the students be able to do by the end of the lesson?”
Establishing Objectives
Learning can be measured by establishing intended outcomes in advance and sharing them with students.
Components of a learning objective
An instructional objective is subdivided into three components: the performance, the conditions under which the performance will take place, and the standard that the performer will be required to achieve.
NAUI Instructor Guides provide one element of lesson objectives for all phases of training in a particular course as Statements of Student Performance. NAUI leaders must reflect and determine the conditions and standard to which they will require their students to perform.
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24. Lesson planning (continued)
Classroom
Preliminary steps of lesson preparation
Subordinate steps
prepare the introduction
prepare the summary
prepare the lesson evaluation
prepare the lesson plan
“TOM I. PASTA” mnemonic
rehearse the lesson
prepare the teaching notes
To prepare lessons from scratch the following steps are recommended:
Classroom
Preliminary Steps of Lesson Preparation
1) Identify topic area and sub-topics; 2) determine objectives (performance, condition, standard); 3) select teaching method (lecture, discussion, guided discovery, etc.); 4) identify teaching points; 5) identify key points and select training aids to support key points.
Subordinate Steps:
Prepare the Introduction (gain attention, motivate students to learn, provide an overview of the lesson, identify the performance objectives)
Prepare the Summary (regain student attention, restate the lesson objectives, restate the key points of the lesson, and relate the lesson to practical application)
Prepare the Lesson Evaluation (oral questioning, written quiz or exam, performance observation)
Prepare the lesson plan (“TOM I. PASTA”: Title, Objectives, Materials, Introduction, Presentation (Body), Application, Summary, Test (Evaluation), and Assignment)
Rehearse the Lesson
Prepare the Teaching Notes (brief notes to “trigger” an idea to be presented)
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25. Lesson planning (continued)
Confined water
Briefing: (introductions, session overview, facility orientation–hazards and restrictions, safety equipment, communications, etc. Detailed briefing outlines are included in NAUI instructor guides.)
Skill review exercises
New skills
Activities
Debriefing
Confined Water
A confined water session is comprised of a series of lessons that are used to introduce skills or skill components in a controlled environment for later application in open water.
Sample Confined Water Session Outline
Briefing: (introductions, session overview, facility orientation–hazards and restrictions, safety equipment, communications, etc. Detailed briefing outlines are included in NAUI Instructor Guides.)
Skill review exercises: (from previous sessions as needed)
New skills: (skill introductions, demonstrations, practice, review, corrected practice)
Activities: (drills, games, etc.)
Debriefing: (emphasize key skills, praise performance, etc.)
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26. Lesson planning (continued)
Steps of confined water lesson preparation
Identify the skill and any sub-components.
Determine objectives: (performance, condition, standard).
Select the teaching method.
Determine the time frame for the lesson.
Determine the skill progression and the exercises needed to reach the objectives.
Determine training aids and assistants needed.
Prepare an introduction and summary, if appropriate.
Prepare the training aids.
Rehearse the skills to be demonstrated.
Prepare teaching notes/slates.
Steps of Confined Water Lesson Preparation
Identify the skill and any sub-components.
Determine objectives: (performance, condition, standard).
Select the teaching method: (mimicry, follow the leader, guided discovery, diversion, etc.).
Determine the time frame for the lesson.
Determine the skill progression and the exercises needed to reach the objectives.
Determine training aids and assistants needed.
Prepare an introduction and summary, if appropriate.
Prepare the training aids.
Rehearse the skills to be demonstrated (self plus assistants).
Prepare teaching notes/slates.
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27. Lesson planning (continued)
Open water training
Briefing: (introductions, session overview, facility orientation–hazards and restrictions, safety equipment, communications, etc.)
Skill review exercises
Skill performance
Skill evaluations
Application of skills
Debriefing
Open water training differs from confined water training in that generally skills that have been learned in confined water are being applied, refined, and evaluated as opposed to being introduced for the first time.
Sample Open Water Session Outline
Briefing: (introductions, session overview, facility orientation–hazards and restrictions, safety equipment, communications, etc.)
Skill review exercises: (from previous session if needed)
Skill performance: (If needed, new skills are introduced, demonstrated, practiced, reviewed, corrected.)
Skill Evaluations
Application of skills: (underwater tour or task)
Debriefing: (emphasize key skills, praise performance, etc.)
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28. Lesson planning (continued)
Steps of open water session preparation
Identify the dive location and an alternate; check weather and environment, print maps and directions.
Verify information for briefing: hazards, communications, and emergency procedures.
Prepare schedule of activities.
Determine staffing and equipment needs.
Prepare briefing notes.
Inventory and check equipment: personal, backup, and emergency.
Prepare emergency action plan.
Prepare debriefing notes.
Steps of Open Water Session Preparation
Identify the dive location and an alternate; check weather and environment, print maps and directions.
Verify information for briefing: hazards, communications, and emergency procedures.
Prepare schedule of activities.
Determine staffing and equipment needs.
Prepare briefing notes.
Inventory and check equipment: personal, backup, and emergency.
Prepare emergency action plan: (chain of command, access to EMS).
Prepare debriefing notes.
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29. End of Unit 16 Teaching Theory and Instructional Techniques
Learning And Teaching
Water Class Management
Lesson Planning
Transition Statement:
All NAUI leaders use some form of “teaching” in their activities. Every NAUI member’s most significant teaching tool is the concerned, skillful, professional image they project, and their personal enthusiasm for aquatic activity. Students and divers will invariably respond well to such a leader’s concern and support.
Review of Main Points: See this presentation slide.
Emphasize Key Points:
Laws of learning
Enhancing learning
Effective teaching
Classroom, confined water, and open water teaching
Preparing lessons
Ask Students for Questions:
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30. Student Performance: By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
Explain testing, evaluation, and achievement.
List and define the Laws of Learning.
Describe the factors that enhance learning.
Demonstrate effective oral communications.
Describe training aids and tell how they can enhance communication.
Explain the learning and teaching process.
Teach swimming and diving in confined and open water.
Lesson plan for classroom, confined, and open water.
Restate the student performance statements as questions:
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31. Student Performance: By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
Explain the learning and teaching process.
Explain testing, evaluation, and achievement.
List and define the Laws of Learning.
Describe the factors that enhance learning.
Describe methods for effective oral communications.
Describe training aids and tell how they can enhance communication.
Explain how to teach swimming and diving in confined and open water.
Prepare lesson plans for classroom, 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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