This is a guest post by Glen Allsopp of PluginID.
Have you ever read an informative book, only to later remember just a few main points — if anything at all? The problem might be that you’re using one of the least efficient ways of learning available.
The Cone of Learning
I remember back about 7 years ago when I was taking music lessons at school, there was a poster on the wall that really grabbed my attention. To be fair, it wasn’t difficult for a random object to attract your gaze as our Scottish teacher at the time didn’t have much in the way of keeping you interested. The poster outlined the different ways that we remember things and how different activities increase our chances of remembering something over others.
After doing some research, I found that the contents of that poster were based upon the work of Edgar Dale back in 1969. Dale looked at the most effective ways of learning by teaching people similar material in different ways and noted the ability to recall the information after the teaching was finished.
Today, many of you may know this as the Cone of Learning, but beware: although the cone is in fact based upon the results of Dale’s research, the percentage figures were never actually cited by Dale, and added by others after the initial investigation.
Even though the Cone of Learning that became widespread contains erroneous figures, it does represent a guideline for the most effective learning techniques that the human brain is able to acquire and store information from.
Based on the research we can see that:
- The least effective way to learn something is to listen to a lecture on the topic or read information about it.
- The most effective way to learn something is to teach others and use it in our own lives.
The Cone of Learning suggests why you are more likely to remember parts of a movie then you are from a book on the same topic. A film uses audio and visual aspects that the brain is more likely to store and hold available for recollection (memory).
Learning Almost Anything
After we discard the erroneous percentage figures, we still must take the cone as just a guideline — one which is subject to change depending on the learning style of the student or the studied subject. Different aspects such as what you want to remember and how often you put it into use will greatly impact how well you remember something. That being said, other things equals, the cone is a great guideline to follow to better imprint something to memory.
On that note, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the best ways to use the Cone of Learning concept, and apply it to an everyday example that we can relate to. The example I’m going to use in the following tips is looking at the best methods you could use to learn what yoga is and remember the necessary positions that are used.
- Give a Lecture. Although receiving a lecture is one of the worst ways to remember what you are being told, giving a lecture is one of the most effective. You could go into any college or university and offer to give a lecture on the topic of yoga and the many positions that are used.
- Write an Article. If you have a blog or a website you could spend time putting together an article on what yoga is all about and the movements that are often used in this meditative practice. Additionally, you could also create images to be used on the site to help explain the certain actions involved.
- Make a Video. Even if you don’t have your own blog or website, there are plenty of video portals such as Youtube and Metacafe that will allow you to upload your own videos for free. This will be effective as you can teach in the lecture format but know that you are instructing to a potentially worldwide audience.
- Discuss with Your Friends. One of the easiest teaching options that you have available to you are the members of your social circle. Wherever appropriate, bring up a topic you would like to discuss and share your wealth of knowledge on it. The more people you can discuss it with the better your ability will be to remember it in the future. Additionally, there are literally hundreds of ways you can discuss it online using the likes of online forums, twitter or even niche social networks.
- Do it Yourself. It’s no use trying your best to teach others about Yoga if it’s something you aren’t interested in and don’t do yourself. If you teach people the importance of controlling their breathing, then when you are performing Yoga in your own time… make sure you are controlling your breathing. Whatever you would teach others, you need to make sure you are implementing yourself.
There are certainly more ways that you could look into teaching others and applying things into your own life. From holding classes in your house to simply creating an audio file of you speaking, see how you can apply teaching about your subject to learn more about a topic.
Exceptions to the Rule
As with most things in life, this isn’t going to apply to every single person, every single time. For example, from my research into this, it is claimed that autistic people are much more likely to learn from visual images rather than trying to teach someone else or do it themselves. Also, I know many people who have a strong preference for auditory learning over visual, for instance.
Additionally, as stated, the figures in the cone are to be used as a guideline, some people will have a high success rate at learning through teaching others while for some it may not be as successful. Generally, look at the ones which are deemed to be the most effective and try the ones which work best for you.
So, what are you going to do to improve your learning now?
Glen Allsopp writes in order to inspire, awaken and motivate people into being who they want to be and living the life they want to live. You can learn more about him at his Personal Development blog.
Thanks Glen, I really appreciate the opportunity to host your guest article. I didn’t know the Cone of Learning concept, and I’m glad you shared it with us. Thanks!
I particularly enjoy how you took special care in exposing the pseudo-scientific data that usually comes with the Cone. For those interested into a more in-depth and rigorous debunk of the facts associated with the cone, check the article ‘People remember 10%, 20%…Oh Really?‘.
As for me, even though the figures are scientifically debatable, I think the Cone of Learning is still an useful concept that everyone can use as a guideline for better learning.
Very interesting! I always like to talk about a new idea with friends or write about it on my blog. Both activities definitely help me remember more about it and also generates new ideas. Plus, it’s more fun learning by interacting with others! : )
Great article,
I’ve read multiple researches that stated that the best way to learn is to teach. That is one of the reason I started by blog
It allows you combine research on what you like and teach others on how to do it.
Great point
I totally agree that teaching is one of the best (if not the best) ways to learn and master something. You need to think about a way to bring your point across, you need to react to questions, maybe go into more depth with your explanation and many times you even notice yourself – while teaching – that something in your own awareness just shifted or clicked.
Sometimes, I even feel somewhat guilty for getting paid by my students for deepening my own understanding.
Since I happen to teach music…
Glen, I expect a follow-up post on the “circle of fifths” from you as a “punishment” for losing interest during your music lessons.
As a professor, I totally agree with you. When we learn “how to be a teacher” we study all these points, not just for the better learning from the students, but for the better teaching by us. There´s a classic book that brings all these points to us, entitled: “How people learn”. Check it out, if you didn´t do it yet.
Thanks to Luciano for the chance to post, I appreciate the opportunity!
Thanks to all for the comments, I’m glad you all like the post
Dear Glen,
Thanks for your article about the Cone of Learning. Many more people should benefit from understanding this concept so they can really be invovled.
I mentor and train people and when I know that I have to teach others, all the what I read make sense. Then after teaching it, I have to walk the talk so I’ve got to apply => then thats where the real learning for me happen.
It is amazing to see yourself improving when your main intention was to help others improve themselves.
I’ve proven this in Toastmasters when I mentor, I get better as a speaker.
More power to you.
Its generous people like you and Luciano who make this world a better place.
Rgds,
Jijie Zablan
I think making notes (i.e. noting down interesting or important points) is also one of the most effective way to learn, as you tend to retain some of the part that goes through your mind and hands as you write.
Another technique that I follow to learn is teaching to an imaginary audience (I wonder who will listen to you when you are learning ancient Indian literature) and sometimes if I am grappling with a concept, I read it, try to visualize it (in mind or through drawing) and then make a point in my mind about how I will put it if I have to explain it to a group of people.
Thanks to Glen Allsopp for valuable resource in the form of image “The Cone of Learning”
Hi Glen, this is very useful post.
I am absolutely agree with your thought that the most effective way to learn something is to teach others and use it in our own lives.
Thanks for sharing, Glen.
@Sandeep: Taking notes during a lecture also works wonders for me. It’s a way to make the experience less passive — and every little bit we can do towards that helps in learning.
Regarding teaching an imaginary audience, it’s all about articulating thoughts verbally — and it definitely works, too! Thanks for sharing! I’ve written a bit about this in a previous article about “rubber ducking“…
Teaching is the key to learning… so very true.
Great article. Stumbled.
I think it is important to recognize that the percentages here will vary with each individual. In my case, I am very audio oriented, it seems to be the way I am wired. So I tend to remember what I hear much longer than what I see. When ever possible, I like to listen to important information first and then back it up by reading it. Many times I will recognize a persons voice before I recognize their face.
Teaching others is a great way to learn. If that’s not an option, I find summarizing an idea in my own words helps, plus I use visual representations to comprehend complex theories.
Stumbled here and glad I did. I see a lot of concepts that are supposed to aid learning but I’ve never seen this before and it seems to make sense immediately. Personally I’ll be going down the route of blogging and video making in the future I think.
Thanks!
Great article and so true.
There is one important sense missing: Your feelings, in at least two ways: The sense that you use when you are doing something. You have written about the importance of doing. And secpond your feelings about something are strongly correlated with how fast an what you learn.
As to the percentages: Maybe thinking in percentages leads to the wrong questions. One of the best way to learn something is to integrate it in different ways. I have no idea how to express such integrations as a percentage.
Gerd
Excellent article Glenn.
While oftentimes we may not retain much of what we read, books are our most important source of knowledge since they are the most accessible media as well as the only media available for accessing the wisdom that has been handed down to us from prior generations.
Fortunately, there are ways to read books that will allow us to understand and retain the information contained therein.
In Mortimer Adler’s classic, “How To Read Book,” the techniques he discusses can be summed as as “total engagement with the author” for example: never read a book without a pencil in hand to mark passages, take notes, jot down agreement or disagreement with the author, etc; read a book at least 3 times through starting starting with a light reading to get a big picture from cover-to-cover (remember to glean insights from the table of contents, index, chapter headings, introduction, etc.) and proceed into deeper engagement with the author on subsequent readings.
Adler has many other ideas as well in the book with specific advice for how to approach different types of books (history vs. science vs. philosophy vs. literature, etc.).
Read this book and apply Adler’s advice and you will be guaranteed to separate the important from the unimportant in you read and retain much more of it.
I second Al’s recommendation. It’s a great classic, and I plan to write something about in the blog at some point.
Here’s the link in case anyone is interested:
How to Read a Book.
In the end, the most important part in the Cone of Learning picture is probably on the right side: the labels ‘passive’ and ‘active’. The key to better learning, it turns out, is to make reading — or any other approach you choose — more active.
Thanks for the reminder Glen. As much as I like to read about personal interests, it doesn’t really stick unless you take action and do something with it in someway.
I think you can absolutely learn a lot by reading about the things you’re interested in, but you have to do something with that information. If it just stays stuck in your head, you’re not firing off neurons and creating new paths for your brain to actually make use of that information.
On a side note, I think it’s important to remember, the more you’re interested in something, the more likely you’ll remember it. If you’re trying to force yourself to learn because you think it would be a “good idea” to be knowledgeable about it, you’ll have a hard time retaining the information you take in.
Great comment Jonathan, you’re right about creating new pathways in our brains to aid in storing the information.
Very true, however it can be useful for people studying and taking exams in subjects they would rather not write about.
Cheers mate!
That’s why I blog.
Luciano, what criteria do you use to Mindmap (or not) a book? Have you ever tried it with GEB? Do you think that it helps you to retain the information? Any thoughts and/or first hand experience?
I mind map books I believe will continue to be useful long after I first read it. That usually means books with actionable items, or with gems that I want to be easily ‘refreshable’ in my mind at any time.
For more information, I’ve outlined the process in an early article: How to Recall an Entire Book in 5 Minutes or Less.
As for “Godel, Escher, Bach, back when I read it I didn’t have the habit of mind mapping books yet, but I sometimes think about getting to it again… Oh, the book is staring at me at this very moment from the shelf…
Glen, I agree totally with your points. I always remember things in much more detail when I engage the idea in some way, as you suggest.
The fact that you writing about a chart that you saw seven years ago is a powerful testament to your ‘Cone of Learning’ thesis.
Even leaving a comment such as this will reinforce the idea of ‘Cone of Learning’.
Well done!
Hey Michael,
Haha very well spotted. Funnily I can still picture the room perfectly, the teacher and how the poster appeared. I have talked about it a few times, and luckily for that exact reason I’ve been able to share the post here
Cheers!
I listen and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
-old proverb
This is some of the most interesting information I’ve ever read on learning. Thank you so very much!
I’m not only going to apply this to my life but I can use it to gain an advantage when teaching others as well. I can be labeled a better teacher for helping others with better memory.
Great site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for the insightful article
Stumbled!!
@ Lane: liked the proverb…”i do and i understand” so true!
This is interesting info, but it seems obvious to me that giving a talk on something or doing a dramatic presentation would be retained longer, because to do that implies that some preparatory study and practice would almost always have been done. At least, I can’t imagine doing either without having studied my text and practiced several times. If that is the case, “Giving a Talk” really means reading, studying, and practicing, then giving a talk. I’d be curious to know how and if that common sequence of events was controlled for when Dale formulated his ideas.
You make a very astute observation, Dart — thanks for sharing!
I also don’t know how (or if) Dale took that kind of care in his work, but your comment made me ponder about the question. Obviously the preparation has enormous learning effect, but I also believe that the talk, in itself, has enormous intrinsic learning value: I don’t know what it is — it may be the verbal articulation involved; or maybe the amount of mental organization that’s required for delivering a talk — the fact is that no matter how long I prepare, I always get new insights during the talk. It always amuses me!
You also made me wonder how different is preparing for giving a talk from, say, preparing to write a paper… Does a presentation demand more effort and enables more learning?
Thanks again for the food for thought!
Thanks very much for this interesting insight into learning techniques!
I think that you not even need to actually *do* something – to imagine doing already gives an extra push – like the “Gedankenexperiment” from Einstein.
When I was a kid in school it seemed anything I read was forgotten almost immediately.
My worst subject was history I barely passed it.
Now I remember anything I read, could this be due to lack of interest since today I read only what I want to read?
Oh, absolutely! Although it’s not explicitly mentioned in the article, I believe that interest in the material is essential for true learning (not only rote memorization).
As a side note, I also remember a time in school that I considered abandoning reading for good, because the books were not the ones that interested me. That’s why it always makes me sad people who don’t want to read because they regard reading as “boring”…
I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments! Two more points:
1. The only French I remember from my high school classes is a few lines from a sketch we performed in front of the class about dining in a restaurant: “Voulez-vous un aperitif?” So, role-playing is a big help.
2. Whenever someone says to me, especially very young people, “I know it, but I can’t explain it.” I gently challenge them by saying something like, “Please try to explain it anyway because until you can express it in words, it’s impossible to know whether you really understand it.”
Finally, Luciano, I linked to your blog from my blog today as part of a meme. One of the rules is that I let you know. Now, you know! ; )
Great points, Shanel!
I especially enjoy #2 — I’m going to borrow it! I am a big fan of explaining things out loud, but never came to a succint way of persuading others to try it, too. Thanks!
Very interesting Glen! The cone of learning is new to me, although I’ve studied memory for many years (even learning pi out to 300 digits using the methods of the classic memory master Harry Lorraine. Not the most useful of knowledge I’ll admit!)
Two additional tips for learning anything:
1. Start your by getting into a curious state of mind. Recall a time when you were learning something very fluidly. When you were in a flow state. Recall how you felt, what you saw, how you breathed. Then recall how well you knew the material afterwords. Affirm that you can learn well.
2. Then think about the topic at hand and start by skimming over the material and ask yourself a bunch of questions you hope to answer through your studies. I’ve found this a great way to get in the right state of mind.
Often people don’t know where to get the information they need to learn. I’ve compiled a list of the 25 best sources of knowledge on the GoalTribe Blog that you might find useful: 25 Ways to Learn How To Do Absolutely Anything
Robin Krieglstein
CEO, GoalTribe.com
just dropping in from StumbleUpon.
You have a pretty nifty site here. I’ll be sure to bookmark it for daily visits.
Great article!
But here goes my 2 cents
There are some techniques to assimilate audible and readable information better.
The first one I can remember is mind mapping.
What a great article – thanks so much! Remember back to your high school english classes when you heard, “Tell em what you’re going to tell ‘em, ‘tell em’, ‘tell em’ what you ‘told em’?
Nice words, but not so helpful in real life. You’re so right when you make the points about how learning occurs and different ways to learn.
If you’re taking a written test for example, it’s better to make lots of visual pictures of what you studied, so you can remember much faster. Our brain recalls pictures many times faster than words.
Matching how you learn, with how you’re tested on anything, results in more learning success.
On HowToLearn.com, you’ll find 52 instant learning tips for just about any subject. Enjoy and from one learning expert to another, thank you again for enlightening our minds! You’re doing great work.
As I always say, “Learning is not about being smart, it’s about strategy.”
Warmly,
Pat Wyman
Author and Founder, http://www.HowToLearn.com
As a college student with many difficult classes this semester, I always find the articles about how to learn incredibly interesting because they’re so relevant to me. Initially, the cone made me feel somewhat cynical because our classes focus heavily on the least efficient ways of learning. However, I have definitely had some personal experience learning in all the ways described in my classes. The most awesome thing any of my professors have done to teach something will is to illustrate it with a really good picture. And the things I’ve learned best are definitely the things I’ve had to help other people figure out.
Given my experience, I think the learning cone pretty accurately ranks the ways in which I learn and I really appreciate the reminder to intentionally seek out the best learning methods. Thanks for an awesome post
The fascinating twist about this article is the fact that, before the internet days, we used to say, “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”
I linked to this article from my blog, http://www.mohanarun.com. What I wanted to say is that the learning cone doesnt take into account the subject of the learning in question (what is being learnt, it addresses only how is being learnt). For example, we all remember just reading about pr0n and hearing about pr0n and we all remembered 100% of what we read and hear since the first time.