The Learning Effectiveness Pyramid The shift from passive to active learning

Mondo Education Updated on 2024-02-05

In modern society, learning has become an essential life skill. Whether at school or at work, you need to constantly learn new knowledge and skills to adapt to the changing environment. However, the efficiency of learning varies from person to person, with some people being able to quickly acquire new knowledge, while others taking more time and effort. So, how to improve learning efficiency?

The Learning Effectiveness Pyramid is a great tool that reveals the differences in learning efficiency between different learning styles. The pyramid is divided into two parts: passive learning and active learning.

Passive learning refers to receptive learning, that is, acquiring knowledge through listening, reading, audio-visual, presentation, etc. These are all one-way, i.e., information flows from the teacher or teaching material to the student. Passive learning is less efficient, with an average retention rate of only 5% to 30%.

Active learning refers to participatory learning, i.e., the acquisition of knowledge through discussion, practice, and teaching others. These are all two-way, i.e., information flows between the teacher and the student. Active learning is highly efficient, with an average retention rate of 50% to 90%.

Among them, teaching others is the most efficient way to learn, with a retention rate of up to 90%. This is because teaching others requires organizing knowledge into an easy-to-understand form, while also answering others' questions, which helps to deepen the understanding and retention of knowledge.

Therefore, in order to improve learning efficiency, you should adopt more active learning methods, especially teaching others. This can be done by participating in discussion groups, doing projects, teaching others, etc.

In addition, you can also use the Feynman learning method, that is, explain what you have learned to someone who does not understand it in simple and easy-to-understand language, which can help you better understand and remember the knowledge.

Overall, the learning efficiency pyramid reveals the relationship between learning efficiency and learning style, stating that active learning is more effective than passive learning. Therefore, in the learning process, we should adopt more active learning methods, especially the method of teaching others, to improve learning efficiency.

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