Dale’s Cone of Experience

Day 105 / 365

I have a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, for which I spent 5 years in college. But the work I do now has nothing to do with what I learned in my classes at college. I am a computer programmer by profession, and a self-taught one at that as well. Over the years I have seen that I have learned very little about coding from books or video lectures. Most of what I know, I have learned by working with startups on actual projects.

And I am sure most of you would agree with me on this. Knowledge gained by actual practical experience is way more than what you can get by lectures and classes. This idea was captured by Edgar Dale in the concept of the “Cone of Experience”. The cone represents how much people retain from what they learn for different modes of learning.

On the top of the cone, we have reading and hearing. The small width of the cone represents how little knowledge we retain if we try to learn this way. On the bottom, we have action, which is doing, saying or writing, which leads to way more retention.

This does not mean that reading is bad. We can all benefit from some reading in our lives these days. But we should remember to apply what we read as well. That’s the only way you can retain what you learn.

“I read and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” — Confucius

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Dolphins in the Army