Yesterday I posted a blank graph and asked where you thought the labels should go for the most effective learning methods, according to a study they read to me and other teachers here at the University of Washington. Here are the labels in the correct order according to that study – and remember, “Teaching” here means one student explaining something to another:

It isn’t really that surprising to learn that we comprehend best when we have to teach a subject to someone else, and you can see that the “participation factor” is the key in the learning methods. The real shocker was the retention level at the various learning modes – lecture was down near the single digits!

What does this have to do with databases or the DBA? Well, we all need to learn new things – and many of us are asked to teach others a new task. To be a good teacher, we have to know how a student learns best – and of course that makes us better students as well. So next time you’re asked to transfer some knowledge to someone else, take a look at this chart first – and let me know how it affected your knowledge transfer.