The concept of the 'Cone of Experience' was fathered Edgar Dale, one of the initial visual-learning researchers. Although the cone itself is interesting, the popular misconceptions are far more intriguing.... Dale initially presented the cone as a visual metaphor which simply illustrated the different levels of learning, ranging from abstract - concrete. However, over time the placement of the 'actions' gained percentages, ranging from the least effective to the most substantial in learning retention. Although the lower levels are more 'physically orientated,' provoking the senses, and are commonly associated with 'learning is doing'...the idea of having respectable percentages in divisions of 'tens' immediately illustrates the lack of true scientific research.
Regardless of the visible errors and false crediting, my opinion on the overall notion of the levels of retention in regards to abstract [reading] - concrete [preforming] I think is a great educated guess. Current research does illustrate that different tools of learning are quite successful when combined...Nevertheless, the ways in which individuals process information is different; there are different types of learners. If the information twisting Dale's original cone was 100% accurate, then humans would have only one way of learning. Personally, I benefit more from hearing than looking, while 'hearing' is credited above 'looking' on the Cone; my sister is the exact opposite, she is a happy visual learner. :)
Coming Soon:
A completely amazing post on FTP....
Photo: [courtesy LIFE Magazine Archive] *The real man with a plan....
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