Theory: The Effectiveness of Learning Can Be Shown in a Pyramid
Compiled by Lori Gracey | Excutive Director | TCEA.org
Summary of the Belief: The pyramid states that if you are a teacher who just “teaches” the material that needs to be learned, your pupils won’t remember much. The traditional teaching methods – reading, audiovisual, and so on – all have low retention scores. As a teacher, you will be most successful (in terms of retention, at least) if you can create lesson situations where the students have to explain the lesson content to each other.
Points About the Belief:
- The origin of the cone of experience is very unclear and may date back to WW II.
- The percentages are too nicely rounded off, which is almost impossible in scientific research.
- All of the percentages and even the order of the different approaches are affected by things such as what is to be recalled or learned, delay between study and test, expertise or prior knowledge of the learner, etc.
Resources:
- Mythical Retention Data and the Corrupted Cone
- Tales of the Undead… Learning Theories: The Learning Pyramid
- Visible Learning PDF
Your Analysis:
Is the theory:
- Myth
- Unproven
- Based on truth
What This Should Mean to Teachers: