Lesson 5: The Cone of Experience

The cone of experience is a visual model, a pictorial device that presents bands of experiences 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 experiences become.

Direct Purposeful Movement- first-hand experience which serve as the foundation od 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 up of reality for practical reasons.

Dramatized Experiences- by dramatization, we can participates in a reconstructed experiences, even though the original event is far removed from us in time.

Demonstrations- it is visualized explanations of an important fact, idea or process by the use of photographs, drawings, films, display, or guided motions.

Study Trips- these are the excursion, educational trips, and visits conducted to observe an event that is unavailable within the classroom.

Exhibits- these are displays to be seen by spectators. The may consist of working models arranged meaningfully or photographs with models, charts, and posters. Sometimes, exhibits are “for your eye only”

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.

Visual Symbols- These are no longer realistic reproduction of physical things for these are highly abstract representations.

 Verbal Symbols- they are not like the objects or ideas for which they stand. The usually do not contain visual clues to their meaning.

APPLICATION

Havard psychologist, Jerome S. Bruner, presents a three-tiered model of learning where he points out that every area of knowledge can be presented and learned in three distinct steps.

It is highly recommended that a learner proceeds from the ENACTIVE to the ICONIC and only after to the SYMBOLIC.

Three pitfalls that we should avoid with regard to the use of the Cone of Experiences

• Using one medium in isolation
• Moving to the abstract without an adequate foundation of concrete experiences
• Getting stuck in the concrete without moving to the abstract hampering the development of our students’ higher thinking skills.