The Cone of Experience
Introduction
After discussion on the systems’ approach to instruction. Let
us tackle Edgar Dale’s cone of experience to get acquainted with various
instructional media which from part of the system’s approach to instruction. If
you remember the 8 M’s of instruction, one element is media. Another is
material. Thee 2M’s (media, material) are actually the elements
of this Cone of experience to be discussed in this lesson.
Edgar Dale (1900-1985)
Served on The Ohio State University faculty from
1929 until 1970. He was an internationally renowed pioneer in the utilization
of audio-visual materials in instruction and the outcomes for learners.
Professor Dale’s
most famous conept was called “Cone of Experience”, a graphic depiction of the
relationship between how iformation is presented in instruction and the
outcomes for learners.
Abstraction
The Cone of Experience is a visual model, a pictorial device
that presents bands of experience
arranged according to the degree of abstraction and not degree of difficulty.
The farther you go from the bottom of the cone, the more abstract the
experience becomes.
Dale(1969)
assert that:
The pattern of
arrangement of the bands of experience is not difficulty but degree of
abstraction- the amount of immediate sensory participation that is involved.
Does Cone of
Experience mean that all teaching and learning must move systematically from
base to pinnacle, from direct purposeful experiences to verbal symbols?
Dale (1969)
categorically says:
No. We continually
shuttle back and forth among various kinds of experiences. Everday each of us
acquires new concrete experiences- through walking on the street, gardening,
dramatics, and endless other means. Such learning by doing, such plesurable
return to the concrete is natural throughout our lives- and at every age every
day and may need help in doing this well.
What are these
bands of experience in Dale’s Cone of experience? It is best to look back at the
Cone itself. But let us expound on each of term starting with the most direct.
Direct purposeful Experience- These are first hand
experiences which as the
foundation of our learning. We build up our reservoir
of meaningful information and ideas through seeing, hearing, touching, tasting
and smelling.
Contrived experiences- In here, we make use of a
representative models or mock ups of reality for practical reasons and so that
we can make the real- life accessible to the students’ perceptions and
understanding.
Dramatized experiences- By dramatization, we can participate
in a reconstructed experience, even though the original event is face removed
from us in time.
Demonstrations- It is a visualized explanation of an
important fact, idea or process by the use of photographs, drawings, films,
displays, or guided motions.
Study Trips- These are excursions, educational trips, and
visits conducted to observe an event that is unavailable within the classroom.
Exhibits- These are displays to be seen by spectator. They
may consist of working models arranged meaningfully or photographs with models,
charts, and posters.
Television and motion pictures- Television and motion pictures
can reconstruct the reality of the past so effectively that we are made to feel
we are there.
Still pictures, Recordings, Radio- These are visual and
auditory devices which may be used by an individual or a group. Still pictures
lack the sound and motion of a sound film. The radio broadcast of an actual
event may often be likened to a televised broadcast minus its visual dimension.
Visual Symbols- These are no longer realistic reproduction of
physical things for these are highly abstract representations. Ex. Are charts,
graphs, maps, and diagrams.
Verbal Symbols- They are not like the objects or ideas for
which they stand. They usually do not
contain visual clues to their meaning. Written words fall under this category.
It may be a word for a concrete object (book), an idea (freedom of speech), a
scientific principle (the principle of balance, a formula (e=mc2)
Jerome S. Bruners- Harvard psychologist, he presents a three- tiered model of learning where he
points out that every area of knowledge can be presented and learned in three
distint steps
§ First
through a series of actions ENACTIVE
§ Second
through a series of illustrations ICONIC
§ Third
through a eries of symbols SYMBOLIC
