MODULE NO.

5
Cone of Experience
Lessons and Coverage

In this module, you will take the following lessons:

Lesson 1. Cone of Experience

 Direct purposeful experiences
 Contrived experiences
 Dramatized experiences
 Demonstrations
 Study trips
 Exhibits
 Television and Motion pictures
 Still pictures, Recording and Radio
 Visual symbols
 Verbal symbols

In this lessons, you will do the following

Lesson 1  Determine each level of the cone

of experience.
 Identify each function.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOME

To do well in this module, you need to demonstrate an understanding of:

1. The cone of experiences and the level of experiences from concrete to

abstract experiences.

MODULE 5
Cone of Experience
The cone of Experience is a visual model, a pictorial device that presents bands of
experience arranged according to 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) asserts that:

The pattern of arrangement of the bands of experiences is not difficulty but degree of
abstraction – the amount of immediate sensory participation that 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 (Dale, 1969)

Dale further explain that “the individual bands of the Cone of Experience stand for
experiences that are fluid, extensive, and continually interact” (Dale, 1969). It should not be
taken literally in its simplified form. The different kinds of sensory aid often overlap and
sometimes blend into one another. Motion pictures can be silent, or they can combine sight
and sound. Students may merely view a demonstration, or they may view it then participate
in it.

Does the 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. Every
day each of us acquires new concrete experiences – through walking on the street,
gardening, dramatics, and endless other means, such pleasurable return to the concrete is
natural throughout our lives – and at every age level. On the other hand, both the older child
and the young pupil make abstractions every day and may need help in doing this well.

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 particular learning situation. Then, of course, we vary this experience with many
other types of learning activities (Dale, 1969).

One kind of sensory experience is not necessarily more educationally useful than another.
Sensory experiences are mixed and interrelated. When students listen to you as you give
your lecturette, they do not just have an auditory experience. They also have visual
experience in the sense that they are “reading” your facial expressions and bodily gestures.

We face some risk when we overemphasize the amount of direct experience to learn a
concept. Too much reliance on concrete experience may actually obstruct the process of
meaningful generalization. The best will be striking a balance between concrete an abstract,
direct participation and symbolic expression for the learning that will continue throughout
life.

It is true that the older a person is, the more abstract his concepts are likely to be. This can
be attributed to physical maturation, more vivid experiences and sometimes greater
motivation for learning. But an older student does not live purely in his world of abstract
ideas just as a child does not live purely in his world of sensory experience. Both old and
young shuttle in a world of the concrete and the abstract.

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 them starting with the most direct.

Direct purposeful experiences – These are first-hand experiences which serve as the
foundation of our learning. We build up our reservoir of meaningful information and ideas
through seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. In the context of the teaching-
learning process, it is learning by doing. If I want my student to learn how to focus a
compound light microscope, I will let him focus one, of course, after I showed him how.

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. For instance, a mock-up of Apollo, the capsule for the
exploration of the moon, enabled the North American Aviation Co. to study the problem of
lunar flight.

Remember how you were taught to tell time? Your teacher may have used a mock up, a
clock, whose hands you could turn to set the time you were instructed to set, Simulations
such as playing “sari-sari” store to teach subtracting centavos from pesos is another example
of contrived experience. Conducting election of class and school officers by stimulating how
local and national elections are conducted is one more example of contrived experience.

Dramatized experience – by dramatization, we can participate in a reconstructed experience,

even though the original event is far removed from us in time. We relive the outbreak of the
Philippine revolution by acting out the role of characters in a drama.

Demonstrations- It is a visualized explanation of an important fact, idea or process by the

use of photographs, drawings, films, displays, or guided motions. It is showing how things
are done. A teacher in Physical Education shows the class how to dance tango
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 spectators. They may consist of working models
arranged meaningfully or photographs with models, charts, and posters. Sometimes exhibits
are “for your eyes only”. There are some exhibits, however, that include sensory experiences
where spectators are allowed to touch or manipulate models displayed.

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. The unique value of the
messages communicated by film and television lies in their feeling of realism, their
emphasis on persons and personality, their organized presentation, and their ability to select,
dramatize, highlight, and clarify.

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. Example 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)

What are the implications of the Cone of Experience in the teaching – learning process?

1. We do not use only one medium of communication in isolation. Rather we use many
instructional materials to help the learner conceptualize his/her experience.
2. We avoid teaching directly at the symbolic level of thought without adequate foundation
of the concrete. Learners’ concept will lack deep roots in direct experience. Dale
cautions us when he said: “These rootless experiences will not have the generative
power to produce additional concepts and will not enable the learner to deal with the
new situations that he faces” (Dale, 1969)
3. When teaching, we don’t get stuck in the concrete. Let us strive to bring our students to
the symbolic or abstract level to develop their higher order thinking skills.
 MODULE 5
ACTIVITY

IDENTIFICATION

________ 1. These are displays to be seen by the learners. They may consist of working models
arranged meaningfully or photograph with models, charts and posters.

________ 2. Written words falls under this category. It may be word of concrete object, an idea,
a scientific principle or a formula.

________ 3. This will allow the learners o visualize past events. Example of this is visualizing
what happened during Philippine Revolution.

________ 4. These are first hand experiences which serve as foundation of learning.

________ 5. This kind of experience will allow the learners to visualize the processes.

________ 6. The teacher is using a representative models or mock-up of reality for practical
reasons to make the real-life accessible to the learners. This Dale’s Cone of Experience is?

________ 7. These are visuals and auditory devices which may be used by a teacher in the
classroom.

________ 8. Which of the following experiences should the teacher apply in teaching-learning
process if she wants to develop the speaking ability of the learners?

________ 9. This is conducted to visit and observe an event that is unavailable in the classroom.

________ 10. He developed the Cone of Experience.