Edgar Dale's Pyramid of Learning in medical education: Further expansion of the myth

Abstract

Introduction A mythical Pyramid of Learning, usually attributed to Edgar Dale (or the National Training Laboratories [NTL]) and giving student learning retention rates, has been cited in a wide range of educational literature. A 2013 literature review indicated that medical education literature similarly cites this Pyramid. It was hoped that highlighting this myth in that review would reduce references to the Pyramid in future medical education literature. This study aimed at determining what change in Pyramid citation has occurred in the past 5 years. Methods A documented literature review, following the same process as the original review, was conducted. The search dates were September 2012 to April 2018, and the databases were Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, Medline and Google Scholar. Sources were from peer‐reviewed journals or conferences, in English. Results From an initial search result of 992 documents, 41 were found to match the criteria. Trends discovered are: the number of Pyramid citations in medical education literature is increasing dramatically, new sources of the Pyramid are now being used, refutations of the Pyramid are being used to support it, and even researchers who acknowledge the weakness of the Pyramid still cite it. Discussion and Conclusion In spite of the 2013 review, the situation has become worse. One possible reason is that refutations use too polite academic wording, and other researchers then consider the Pyramid to be merely “disputed” or “debated.” To kill the myth of the Pyramid, it is necessary for this article's Abstract to state unequivocally: The Pyramid is rubbish, the statistics are rubbish, and they do not come from Edgar Dale. Until the NTL can provide details about the original research, their version must also be treated as rubbish.

The outcome-based iCAN! / theyCAN! feedback paradigm differentiates strong and weak learning outcomes, learner diversity, and the learning outcomes of each learner: A shift to metacognitive assessment

“…This is perhaps because the students already had prior knowledge on the cancer biology, while it was the first time they were exposed to clinical research. This could also be due to the different teaching methods; the cancer biology teacher delivered a lecture, while the clinical research teacher had prepared a small group teaching with student cooperation opportunities, more time for discussion and more interactive methods of teaching: Despite the fact that there is no agreement on the percentage of learning retention [18], lecturing is considered less effective compared to an active student engagement. In any case, the two-questionnaire system revealed the difference.…”

Evaluation Study: Implementation of Training Program for Developing Instructional Media Based on Radio and Television

“…Edgar Dale reveals that in understanding something better when the material will also utilize the sense of sight than just hearing. [3].…”

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“…The papers by Rudland et al, Masters and Molloy et al on our often‐erroneous knowledge about the effects of stress, our use of Dale's pyramid of learning, and the myths of feedback all underline how pervasive incorrect knowledge is and how it continues to inform our teaching practices well after it has been debunked. Add to this the omnipresent myth of learning styles (ie that learners have an optimal mode of processing information such that, for example, ‘visual learners’ learn more easily from visually presented material and ‘aural learners’ learn more easily from auditory information amongst other things), and we see ourselves faced with a quest to explicitly debunk myths in our teaching.…”

“…Rather than simply being useful for facilitating conceptual change in students, such findings suggest ways in which the presentation of our scientific writing might better facilitate conceptual change in our readers. For example, perhaps the explicit message refuting the evidence for Dale's pyramid of learning, as stated by Masters at the end of his abstract, would be made even more influential if it started with: ‘Some people think that [learners remember 10% of what they hear from lectures]. However, there is no evidence for this.’ It is for reasons such as this that explicit examination of our field's mythology is so important.…”