Theory: Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience

Theorist: Edgar Dale

Biography:

Edgar Dale was a theorist in the areas of reading and journalism and a leader in the

humanistic/communications tradition of the field of instructional technology. He wrote three

books dealing with "Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching." Dale believed that learning becomes

more meaningful when abstract learning and concrete experience are related. (Seels,1997, p.1)

Description of Theory:

Edgar Dale created the cone of experience (1946) that he explained in his

book on audiovisual methods in teaching. The Cone of Experience is a

graphical representation of Dale’s model of visual classification on ways of

learning experiences. The theory assisted in the development of utilizing

audio-visual methods in teaching that were used within the instructional

technology field. The conical shape was used to create the symbolic

depiction of learning from the most concrete level of experience located at

the bottom of the cone to the most abstract level of experience located at

the point of the cone. The cone implemented a series of varied experiences

from the very basic to enhanced learning experiences with the intent to

immerse the learner further within the subject matter in order to retain a

greater knowledge of the material. The learner is meant to utilize a variety

of senses (movement, sight, hearing, touching) at different intervals of

experiences to create a direct learning process. The original categories of

Dale’s cone of experience starting from the top of the cone to bottom are as

follows: Verbal Symbols; Visual Symbols; Radio-Recordings-Still Pictures;

Motion Pictures; Exhibits; Field Trips; Demonstrations; Dramatic Participation;

Contrived Experiences; and Direct Purposeful Experiences. Figure 1.

Edgar Dale made changes within the cone of experience as advances in

technology brought new and immersive ways of learning into teaching. In

Dale’s second edition to his book (1954), he made the change of Dramatic

Participation to Dramatized Experiences and added television.

In Summary, The Cone of Experience was created in the 1950’s as a way of

implementing a series of various educational experiences listed in hierarchy

in order to enhance the ability of a learner to retain the subject matter. To

this day, the Cone of Experience has been utilized within training

environments with variances on the cone’s categories as technology

advances.

Theory Measurement Diagram:

The diagram of instrument theory can be viewed at the following web site.

http://www.willatworklearning.com/2006/05/people_remember.http

References

Dale, E. (1946) Audio-visual methods in teaching. New York: The Dryden

Press.

Dale, E. (1954) Audio-visual methods in teaching, revised edition. New York: A Holt-Dryden

Book, Henry Holt and Company.Dale, E.

Brief Summary of Dale’s Cone of Experience. Retrieved September 16, 2008, from

http://jjde.blogspot.com/2007/09/brief-summary-of-dale.html

Seels, B. (1997). The Relationship of Media ISD and Theory: The Unrealized Promise of Dale’s

Cone of Experience. Retrieved September 17, 2008, from

http://eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/16/

c4/c6.pdf

San José State University Copyright 2004

BackgroundYears ago an educator named EdgarDale (Educational Media, 1960), oftencited as the father of modern media ineducation, developed from his experiencein teaching and his observations oflearners the "cone of experience”. Thecone's utility in selecting instructionalresources and activities is as practicaltoday as when Dale created it.

People generally remember… … 2 Modified from work By E. L. Counts, Jr.

• 10% of what they read • 20% of what they hear • 30% of what they see

• 50% of what they hear and see - video • 70% of what they say or write • 90% of what they say as they do something

interpretations:

\• The cone is based on the relationships of various educational experiences to reality (real life).

• The bottom level of the cone, "directpurposeful experiences," represents realityor the closest things to real, everyday life.

The opportunity for a learner to use a varietyor several senses (sight, smell, hearing,touching, movement) is considered in the cone.

• Direct experience allows us to use all senses. • As you move up the cone, fewer senses are involved at each level.

• The more sensory channels possible ininteracting with a resource, the better thechance that many students can learn from it.

Edgar Dale’s cone of experience.

Reproduced from,

http://jjde.blogspot.com/2007/09/brief-summary-of-dale.html