EDGAR DALE’S CONE

OF EXPERIENCE
“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.”

-EDGAR DALE
What is the Cone of Experience?

What are the sensory aids in the

Cone of Experience?

What are its implication in

teaching?
First introduced in Dale’s
1946 book, Audio-Visual
Methods in Teaching.

Designed to “show the

progression of learning
experiences” (Dale (1969) p.
108) from the concrete to
the abstract The Cone of
Experience
 Concrete Abstract

• First-hand • Difficulty when not

experiences enough previous
• Learner has some experience or
control over the exposure to a concept.
outcome • Every level of the
• Incorporates the use Cone uses abstract
of all five senses thinking in come way.
 Misconception about 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

 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 ú Enactive – direct
experience ú Iconic – representation of experience ú
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.
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)

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.
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
 educational television and motion
pictures
TELEVISION MOTION PICTURE
• Bring immediate interaction
• Can omit unnecessary materials
with events from around the
• Used to slow down a fast
world
process
• Edit an event to create clearer
• Viewing, seeing and hearing
understanding than if
experience
experience actual event first
• Can re-create events with
hand
simplistic drama that even
• Example: (TV coverage of 911)
slower students can grasp.
Recordings,Radio still
pictures
verbal symbols