The Cone of Experience

The Cone of Experience is presented in its inverted form such that the base is broader than its apex. It is made up of eleven bands which are arranged in an increasing degree of abstractions as one move from the base to the apex

DIRECT PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCES VERBAL SYMBOLS VISUAL SYMBOLS RECORDINGS, RADIO, STILL PICTURES MOTION PICTURES EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION EXHIBITS STUDY TRIPS DEMONSTRATIONS DRAMATIZED EXPERIENCES CONTRIVED EXPERIENCES DIRECT PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCES

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 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

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 student conceptualize his experience. 2 We avoid teaching directly at the symbolic level of thought without adequate foundation of the concrete. Students' concepts 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 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.

Three pitfalls that teachers should avoid with regard to the use of the Cone of Experience: using one medium in isolation. moving to the abstract without an adequate foundation of concrete experience.   getting stuck in the concrete without moving to the abstract hampering the development of our students' higher thinking skills.

Three –fold Analysis of Experience by Jerome Bruner ENACTIVE- refers to the direct or actual experiences or encounter with what is. This is a life on the raw, rich and unedited. They form the bases for all other learning experiences. ICONIC- Refers to the more abstract experiences which could be in the form of picture SYMBOLIC- refers to the use of the words or printed materials which no longer resemble the subject under study.

BRUNER’S THREE- FOLD ANALYSIS OF EXPERIENCE THIRD THROUGH A SERIES OF SYMBOLS SYMBOLIC SECOND THROUGH A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIONS ICONIC FIRST THROUGH A SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS ENACTIVE

BRUNER’S THREE- FOLD ANALYSIS INCREASING ABSTACTION OF EXPERIENCE INCREASING ABSTACTION SYMBOLIC ICONIC HENCE INCREASING DIFFICULTY ENACTIVE

The BRUNER’S THREE-FOLD ANALYSIS suggests that learning is more impressive if one proceeds from the concrete to abstract, or from specific to general because more senses are involved and the relationships are built in a more pronounced manner.

If we want out students to remember and master what was taught, we cannot ignore what the Cone of Experience reminds us to make use of a combination of as many learning resources as we can and to proceed to the abstract only after we have presented the concrete. Do we have to end in the abstract'? Or should the abstract lead us again to the concrete and the concrete to the abstract again? So learning is from the concrete to the abstract, from the abstract to the concrete and from the concrete to the abstract again? It becomes a cycle.