Dale's Cone of Experience PDF

# Theories and Principles in the Use and Design of Technology ## Edgar Dale Biography Edgar Dale (April 27, 1900 in Benson, Minnesota - March 8, 1985 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American educationist who developed the Cone of Experience. He made several contributions to audio and visual instruction,...

# Theories and Principles in the Use and Design of Technology ## Edgar Dale Biography Edgar Dale (April 27, 1900 in Benson, Minnesota - March 8, 1985 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American educationist who developed the Cone of Experience. He made several contributions to audio and visual instruction, including a methodology for analyzing the content of motion pictures. ## The Cone of Experience "The cone is a visual analogy, and like all analogies, it does not bear an exact and detailed relationship to the complex elements it represents." - Edgar Dale In preparing to become a teacher, there are elements that should be taken into consideration. One way of putting it is the 8M's of teaching and each element contributes to ensuring effective instruction: ### The Eight M's of Teaching 1. Milieu - the learning environment 2. Matter - the content of learning 3. Method - teaching and learning activities 4. Material - the resources of learning 5. Media - communication system 6. Motivation - arousing and sustaining interest in learning 7. Mastery - internalization of learning 8. Measurement - evidence that learning took place ## Dale's Cone of Experience The Cone of Experience is a visual representation of a continuum of learning, categorized into different experiences from direct, purposeful experiences to symbolic experiences. | Experience | Description | | :--------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Direct, Purposeful Experiences | Experiences gained by us in real life through our direct involvement on a first-hand basis. For example, participating in a cooking class with its smell, sight, tastes, and temperatures. | | Contrived Experiences | *Is the edited copies of reality and are used as substitute for real things when it is not practical to bring in the classroom. For example, model, mock up, specimens, replica, diorama* | Dramatized Experiences | This level of experience involves learners watching or participating in a dramatization of an event or concept. For example; role play, tableau. | | Demonstrations | *Is a visualised explanation of facts, ideas or processes*. Demonstrations can include pictures, drawings, film, or other types of media in order to facilitate clear and effective learning. | | Study Trips | Study trips offer the sights and sound of real world settings. The main activity focuses on observing from the sidelines, aside from occasional opportunities to participate. | | Exhibits | These are displays of models such as pictures, artifacts, posters, among others that provide the message or information. *Sometimes are “for your eyes only." * | | Educational Television | These technology equipment provide a two-dimensional reconstruction of reality. These allow learners to experience the situation being communicated through the mediated tools. They provide a feeling of realism as viewers try to understand the message portrayed by actors in the films. | | Motion Pictures | These technology equipment provide a two-dimensional reconstruction of reality. These allow learners to experience the situation being communicated through the mediated tools. They provide a feeling of realism as viewers try to understand the message portrayed by actors in the films. | | Recordings, Radio, and Still Pictures | Radio still are pictures or images. Together in this category are the audio-recorded materials or information broadcast through the radio. | | Visual Symbols | These are more abstract representations of the concept or the information. *Examples of visual symbols include:* - drawing - concrete visual representation - cartoons - banks on symbolism strip drawings and comics - humorous series of events - diagrams - affinity group data - charts -uses shapes and symbols - pie - parts to a whole - bar graph - comparison of magnitude - maps - representation of the surface of the earth - physical - physical attribute | | Verbal Symbols | This category appears to be the most abstract because they may not exactly look like the concept or object they represent but are symbols, words, codes or formulae. For example, chalkboards, books and other painted materials | ## Educational Outcomes and Activities This diagram shows the percentages of information remembered based on the type of learning activity. The higher the level of experience, the more information is retained. The bottom of the diagram shows learning activities while the top shows educational outcomes. | Learning Activities | % Remembered | Learning Outcomes | | :------------------------------------------------ | :------------ | :----------------- | | 10% of what they read | 10% | Define | | 20% of what they hear | 20% | List | | 30% of what they see | 30% | Describe | | 50% of what they see and hear | 50% | Explain | | Attend exhibits/Sites | 50% | Demonstrate | | Watch a demonstration | 50% | Apply | | Participate in hands-on workshops | 70% | Practice | | Design collaborative lessons | 70% | Analyze | | Simulate, Model, or Experience a Lesson | 90% | Define | | Design/Perform a Presentation - "Do the Real Thing" | 90% | Create | | | | Evaluate | ## Bruner's Three-Tiered Model Dale's work is consistent with Bruner's three-tiered model of learning: 1. Enactive - series of actions 2. Iconica - series of illustrations or icons 3. Symbolic - series of symbols Bruner recommends that learners progress through these learning tiers, beginning with enactive experiences and moving to iconic and symbolic experiences. When a learner is mature and capable of directing his own learning, he or she can move fluidly across the cone of experience. ## Explore The cone of experience is a visual model that shows a continuum of learning, a pictorial device that presents bands of experience. It does not strictly define the bands to be mutually exclusive but allows for a fluid movement across the levels. The version of Dale's cone of experience with percentages as to which band will hone higher order thinking and engage learners may be confusing because it may not necessarily mean that learning better takes place when materials or activities belong to the upper level of the cone or that the nature of involvement is more active if it is in the bottom. For all the descriptive categorization of learning experiences, other elements, such as students' motivation to be engaged and learn, have to be factored in as well. ## Dale (1969) Asserts That: The pattern of arrangement of the bands experience is not difficulty but degree of abstraction. The amount of immediate sensory participation that is involved. A still photograph of a tree is not more difficult to understand than a dramatization of Hamlet. It is simply in itself a less concrete teaching material than the dramatization. In our teaching, then, we do not always begin with direct experience at the base of the cone. Rather, we begin with the kind of experience that is most appropriate to the needs and abilities of a particular learning situation. Then, of course, we vary this experience with many other types of learning activities. (Dale, 1969 as cited in B. Corpuz & Lucido, 2012).