The Cone of Learning

The Cone of Learning

What you see above is the famous cone of learning. It precisely illustrates the human level of understanding based on different learning methods. If we closely examine our school and college experiences, we have primarily engaged in passive forms of learning, achieving a maximum efficiency of about 50%. This cone highlights how much we are truly engaged in the learning process. Of course, this doesn't mean that reading a book is useless, but over the years—especially the last five—I have realized that while reading does improve knowledge, actual learning happens when we apply it in practical situations, where we can achieve the highest efficiency of 90%.

Engineering students always strive for the highest efficiency when designing any system or considering any components. However, when it comes to learning, we often fall into the same trap of passively reading through books, notes, and assignments, and then giving exams. Consequently, throughout my three-year journey, I never truly enjoyed any engineering subject, even if I got good grades in some of them. As I grew older and more mature, I realized that perhaps my natural passion wasn't engineering. I say this because my professors taught me engineering, but what about the things I would learn or at least try to learn on my own? With the vast ocean of data available on the internet, we can learn so much for little to no cost.

From my personal experience, I can confidently say that simulations and games are the best ways to learn. If any of you have read Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki mentions that when he was employed by his rich dad, they played Monopoly. Nowadays, Monopoly can be found in any children's store, and it is one of the best games I have ever played. In my childhood, I played it casually, but now my friends and I apply mathematical concepts like probability to gain an edge in the game. We spend minutes negotiating every deal, learning to negotiate well. I could go on and on about this game, but that is reserved for another blog 😊. The main point I want to share from my experience is that the more you involve yourself in real-life activities, the more you start understanding the fundamentals of the system in which you eventually want to operate.

I have amazing experiences related to the Cone of Learning, and each of them will unfold in upcoming blogs, so STAY TUNED!✌