ONLINE ASSIGNMENT (09/03/2022)

 

Edger Dale

Edgar Dale was born on April 27, 1900 in Benson, Minnesota. He received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of North Dakota and a Ph.D from the University of Chicago.^[1] His doctoral thesis was titled "Factual Basis for Curriculum Revision in Arithmetic with Special Reference to Children's Understanding of Business Terms."^[2] and is precursor for his later work with vocabulary and readability.

From 1921 to 1924, Dale was a teacher and the superintendent of schools in Webster, North Dakota. In 1924, he became a teacher at junior high school in Winnetka, Illinois, where he stayed until 1926. In 1928, Dale's interest in film led to a position with Eastman Kodak as a member of the editorial staff of Eastman Teaching Films in Rochester, New York for one year.^[3]

In 1929, Dale left Kodak to become a professor at Ohio State University.^[4] Dale remained a professor at OSU until his retirement in 1970.^[5]

In 1933, Dale wrote a paper on how to effectively create a high school film appreciation class. This paper has been noted for having a very different view of adolescent interaction with films than that taken by the Film Control Boards of the time.^[6]

Dale died March 8, 1985 in Columbus, Ohio

 

Dale’s Cone of Experience

 

Edgar Dale (April 27, 1900 – March 8, 1985) was a U.S. educationist who developed the famous Cone of Experience. Dale was a professor of education at university. He made several contributions to audio and visual instruction, including a methodology for analysing the content of motion pictures Edgar Dale, an expert in audiovisual education, created a model in his 1946 book Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching that he named the Cone of Experience to discuss various modalities/channels of imparting information. . The cone of experience given by Edgar dale has rightly said that it is not offered as a perfect or mechanically flaw less picture to be taken with absolute literalness in its simplified form. It is merely a visual aid to explain the interrelationships of various types of audiovisual materials, as well as their individual positions in learning process His cone did not refer to learning or retention at all, instead modelling levels of abstraction: words being the most abstract in his model, at the top of the cone, and real-life experiences the most concrete, and at the base of the cone.

Dale’s Cone of Experience is a model that incorporates several theories related to instructional design and learning processes.  During the 1960s, Edgar Dale theorized that learners retain more information by what they “do” as opposed to what is “heard”, “read” or “observed”.  His research led to the development of the Cone of Experience. The Cone was originally developed in 1946 and was intended as a way to describe various learning experiences. Essentially, the Cone shows the progression of experiences from the most concrete (at the bottom of the cone) to the most abstract (at the top of the cone).

The cone of experience is a pictorial device use to explain the interrelationships of the various types of audio-visual media, as well as their individual “positions” in the learning process. The cone’s utility in selecting instructional resources and activities is as practical today as when Dale created it.

 

Dale’s Cone of Experience is a visual model that is composed of eleven (11) stages starting from concrete experiences at the bottom of the cone then it becomes more and more abstract as it reach the peak of the cone. Also, according to Dale, the arrangement in the cone is not based on its difficulty but rather based on abstraction and on the number of senses involved. The experiences in each stages can be mixed and are interrelated that fosters more meaningful learning.

According to one of the principles in the selection and use of teaching strategies, the more senses that are involved in learning, the more and the better the learning will be but it does not mean that concrete experience is the only effective experience that educators should use in transferring knowledge to the learner. Like what was mentioned above, the experiences in each stages can be mixed and are interrelated thus, a balance must be achieved between concrete and abstract experiences in order to cater the and address all the need of the learner in all the domains of development and in order to help each learner in their holistic development.

The generalization about the Cone of Experience that was presented above is not enough. Actually, we should try to go deeper in each of the component of the cone since Educational Technology basically revolves around the Cone of Experience. By going one-by-one, starting from concrete to abstract, we will understand more the different components of the cone that will help us in grasping the real meaning of educational technology.

Direct Purposeful Experiences.

These are first hand experiences which serve as the foundation of learning. In this level, more senses are used in order to build up the knowledge. Also, in this level, the learner learned by doing things by him/herself. Learning happens through actual hands-on experiences. This level explains and proves one of the principles in the selection and use of teaching strategies, the more senses that are involved in learning, the more and the better the learning will be. This level also proves that educational technology is not limited to the modern gadgets and software that are commercially available nowadays. This shows that even the simple opportunity that you give to each child could help them learn.

Example: Before teaching a poem or story based on travel for instance a travelogue the teacher could take the students for an outing. By doing so the children will get a first-hand experience of travelling.

The Contrived Experiences.

In this level, representative models and mock-ups of reality are being used in order to provide an experience that as close as reality.  This level is very practical and it makes learning experience more accessible to the learner. In this stage, it provides more concrete experiences, even if not as concrete as direct experiences, that allows visualization that fosters better understanding of the concept.

Example: Before teaching William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, children can be taken for a stage enactment on the play. By showing a professional drama by trained artists would create similar impression as that of the original play in students.

 

The Dramatized experiences.

In this level, learners can participate in a reconstructed experiences that could give them better understanding of the event or of a concept. Through dramatized experiences, learners become more familiar with the concept as they emerge themselves to the “as-if” situation.

Example: A role play can be made use of while teaching how to write conversation. Children will be given a situation to enact and make sentences. Here the active participation of students is needed and along with that they learn how to write a conversation.

The Demonstrations.

It is a visualize explanation of important fact, idea, or process through the use of pictures, drawings, film and other types of media in order to facilitate clear and effective learning. In this level, things are shown based on how they are done.

Example: While teaching the Wonders of the World, the teacher can make use of pictures. By showing the pictures and naming them would be an interesting sight for the children and also they will learn things very quickly.

 

 

The Study Trips.

This level extends the learning experience through excursions and visits on the different places that are not available inside the classroom. Through this level, the learning experience will not be limited to the classroom setting but rather extended in a more complex environment.

Example: Children can be taken to the zoo in order to give them a real time experience outside classroom. This can help them in creating a deeper understanding on litersry works written on animals.

The Exhibits

The level of study trips is followed by exhibits. It is a somewhat a combination of some of the first levels in the cone. Actually, exhibits are combination of several mock ups and models. Most of the time, exhibits are experiences that is “for your eyes” only but some exhibits includes sensory experiences which could be related to direct purposeful experiences. In this level, meanings ideas are presented to the learners in a more abstract manner. This experience allows student to see the meaning and relevance of things based on the different pictures and representations presented.

Example: An exhibition on the life and works of William Shakespeare would give children more information on him. It will also stimulates children’s vision.

The television and motion pictures etc.

The next levels would be the level of television and motion pictures and still pictures, recordings, and Radio. For television and motion pictures, it implies values and messages through television and films. On the other hand, still pictures, recordings and radio are visual and audio devices that can be used by a group of learner that could enhance and extend learning experience

Example:  It will be helpful to show children a video on Elizabethan Theatre while teaching them. This would give a clear picture of how it was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9uDK3xsLYk

The Visual symbolic and Verbal symbolic

The last two levels would be the Visual symbolic and Verbal symbolic. These two levels are the most complex and abstract among all the components of the Cone of Experience. In the visual symbolic level, charts, maps, graphs, and diagrams are used for abstract representations. On the other hand, the verbal symbolic level does not involve visual representation or clues to their meanings. Mostly, the things involved in this level are words, ideas, principles, formula, and the likes.

Example: While teaching students phonology in English language, the teacher can make use of the visual symbols. There is different phonetic script for each sound.

 

 

 

After going through the different components of the Cone of Experience, it could be said that in facilitating learning, we can use variety of materials and medium in order to maximize the learning experience. One medium is not enough so there’s nothing wrong with trying to combine several medium for as long as it could benefit the learners.

Through the levels provided by the Cone of Experience, it could be said that concrete experiences must be provided first in order to support abstract learning.  Lastly, staying on the concrete experiences is not even ideal because through providing abstract experiences to the learner, the more he will develop his  higher order thinking skills which is important for more complex way of thinking and for dealing with more complex life situations.

Through understanding each component of the Cone of Experience, it could be said that Educational Technology is not limited to the modern gadgets that we have right now but rather it is a broad concept that includes all the media that we can use to attain balance as we facilitate effective and meaningful learning.