Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

1. THE CONE OF EXPERIENCE
By Edgar Dale

2. 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.

3. • The elements of the Cone of
Experience are the 2 M’s of instruction
namely the media and the material.
• It guides the teachers in choosing the
kind of instructional materials in
teaching.

4. Verbal Symbols
Visual Symbols
Recordings, Radio Still
Pictures
Motion Pictures
Educational
Television
Exhibits
Demonstrations
Dramatized
Experiences
Contrived
Experiences
Direct Purposeful
Experiences
Study Trips
EDGAR DALE’S CONE OF EXPERIENCE
Cognitive Skills

5. First introduced in Dale’s 1946
book, Audio-Visual Methods in
Teaching.
Designed to “show the progression
of learning experiences” from the
concrete to the abstract.

6. Concrete vs. Abstract Learning
Concrete Learning Abstract Learning
• First-hand experiences
• Learner has some
control over the
outcome
• Incorporates the use of
all five senses
• Difficulty when not
enough previous
experience or exposure
to a concept
• Every level of the Cone
uses abstract thinking in
come way

7. Influences on the
Cone of Experience
 Hoban, Hoban & Zisman’s Visual Media Graph
 Value of educational technology is based on their
degree of realism
 Jerome Bruner’s Theory of Instruction
 Three levels in the learning process
 Enactive – direct experience
 Iconic – representation of experience
 Symbolic – words or visual symbols
 The process of learning must begin in concrete
experiences and move toward the abstract if mastery
is to be obtained.

8. Mis-Conceptions of the Cone
• All teaching/learning must move from the
bottom to the top of the Cone.
• One kind of experience on the Cone is more
useful than another
• More emphasis should be put on the bottom
levels of the Cone
• The upper level of the Cone is for older students
while the lower levels are for younger students
• It overemphasizes the use of instructional media

9. Levels of the Cone
of Experience
 Enactive – direct experiences
 Direct, Purposeful
 Contrived
 Dramatized
 Iconic – pictorial experiences
 Demonstrations
 Study trips
 Exhibits
 Educational television
 Motion pictures
 Recordings, radio, still
pictures
 Symbolic – highly abstract
experiences
 Visual symbols
 Verbal symbols
Verbal Symbols
Visual Symbols
Recordings, Radio Still
Pictures
Motion Pictures
Educational
Television
Exhibits
Demonstratio
ns
Dramatized
Experiences
Contrived
Experiences
Direct Purposeful
Experiences
Study Trips

10. Enactive
• Refers to the direct experiences or encounter
with what is.
• This is life on the raw, rich and unedited.
• They form the bases for all other learning
experiences.
• Example: (Actual swimming lesson)

11. Direct Purposeful Experiences
• “First hand Experiences”
• Have direct participation in the outcome
• Use of all our senses
Examples:
Working in a homeless shelter
 Tutoring younger children
At the very bottom of the Cone we find the most
concrete uses of experience.

12. Contrived Experiences
 Here, we make use of a representative
models and mock-ups of reality.
 “Edited copies of reality”
 Necessary when real experience cannot be
used or are too complicated.
 Examples
 Conducting election of class and school officers
 Mock up of a clock

13. CONTRIVED
EXPERIENCES
GAMES
OBJECTS
SPECIMENS
MOCK UPS
MODELS
SIMULATIONS

14. Dramatized Experiences
 “Reconstructed Experiences”
 Can be used to simplify an event or idea to its most
important parts.
 Divided into two categories
 Acting (Role Playing)– actual participation (more concrete)
 Observing – watching a dramatization take place (more abstract)
Other forms:
1. Plays
2. Puppets
3. Pageant
4. Pantomime
5. Tableu

15. Demonstrations
• A visualized explanation of an important fact, idea or process by the
use of:
1. Photographs
2. Drawings
3. Films
4. Displays
5. Guided motions
• Showing how things are done.
– How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
– How to play the piano
– How to lift a fingerprint
• Visualized explanation of an important fact, idea, or process
• Demonstrations are a great mixture of concrete hands-on
application and more abstract verbal explanation.

16. Study Trips
Watch people do things in real situations
Observe an event that is unavailable in the
classroom
• These are excursions, educational trips, and
visits conducted o observe an event that is
unavailable within the classroom.
Example: Field Study

17. • These are displays to be seen by spectators.
• May consist of working models, charts and posters.
• Sometimes are “for your eyes only”. More on visual.
 Two types
 Ready made
○ Museum
○ Career fair
 Home-made
○ Classroom project
○ National History Day competition

18. Iconic Experiences on the Cone
Progressively moving toward greater use of
imagination
Successful use in a classroom depends on how
much imaginative involvement the method can
illicit from students
Involves:
Demonstrations
Study trips
Exhibits
Motion pictures
Educational television
Radio, recordings, and still pictures

19. Educational Television and
Motion Pictures
Television Motion Pictures
 Bring immediate
interaction with events
from around the world
 Edit an event to create
clearer understanding
than if experienced
actual event first hand
 Example:
 TV coverage of 9/11
 Can omit unnecessary
or unimportant material
 Used to slow down a
fast process
 Viewing, seeing and
hearing experience
 Can re-create events
with simplistic drama
that even slower
students can grasp

20. • 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.

21. Recordings, Radio
Still Pictures
 Can often be understood by those who cannot
read. Lack auditory dimension.
 Helpful to students who cannot deal with the
motion or pace of a real event or television
 These are visual or auditory devices which
maybe used by an individual or a group.
 Examples:
 Time Life Magazine
 Listening to old radio broadcasts
 Listening to music

22. Symbolic
• Refers to the use of words or printed materials
which no longer resemble the object under
study.
• Example the word whale. Upon reading or
hearing the word whale, the learner can form
a mental image about it.

23. Visual Symbols
No longer involves reproducing real situations
Chalkboard and overhead projector the most
widely used media
Help students see an idea, event, or process
Examples:
Chalkboard
Flat maps
Diagrams
charts

24. VISUAL
SYMBOLS
DRAWINGS
CARTOONS
POSTERS
DIAGRAMS
CHARTS
GRAPHS
STRIP
MAPS DRAWINGS

25. 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)