Lesson 7

 

Direct, Purposeful experience

-          An ounce of EXPERIENCE is BETTER than TON of THEORIES – JOHN Dewey

Introduction

-          After seeing instructional materials as whole, let us single out direct, purposeful experiences as instructional materials, the most real in Dale’s Cone of Experience, let’s learn how they could be effectively use for  instruction

Direct, purposeful experiences

-          Concrete and first hand experiences that make up our foundation of learning.

-          Rich experiences that our senses bring from which we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalization that give meaning and order to our lives. (DALE 1969)

Examples

-          Preparing meals                             -  Performing a laboratory

-          Making a piece of furniture                       - delivering a speech

Indirect experiences

-          Experience of other that we observe, read or hear about.

-          Not our own experiences, but still experiences in the sense that we see, read, hear about them.

-          Not firsthand but rather vicarious.

Examples

-          Watching film        -  reading

Direct experiences As Purposeful

-          Experiences that are internalized in the sense that these experiences involve the asking of question that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the direct experience.

-          Experiences are undergone in relation to a purpose.

-          It is done in relation to a certain learning objective.

Implication to the teaching process

-          Give students opportunities to learn by doing.

-          Let us make use real things as instructional materials for as long as we can.

-          Let us help students develop the 5 senses to the full.

-          Let us guide our students so that they can draw meaning from their first hand experiences and elevate their level of thinking.