Edgar Dale developed the Cone of Experience in 1946 to show the progression of learning from concrete to abstract experiences. At the base is direct experience where learners have control over outcomes using their senses. Moving up are progressively more abstract experiences like demonstrations, exhibits, and symbolic representations using visual or verbal symbols. The Cone was intended to depict how instructional methods relate to learning outcomes and that different experiences on the Cone are not hierarchical but allow for more abstract thought. It is often misused by assuming experiences must follow the Cone from bottom to top or that some experiences are inherently better.

3. Jester T. Bantayan
Rheyal M. Atienza
Rez John T. Ranque
Jenimie G. Nieves
Prof.Ed. Student
ED.TECH 1
Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

4. Questions to be Addressed:
 Who is Edgar Dale?
 What is the Cone of Experience?
 Is the Cone of Experienced based on
previous theories?
 What are mis-conceptions of the
Cone of Experience?
 How can the Cone help
instruction?

5. Edgar Dale (1900-1985) served on The Ohio State
University faculty from 1929 until 1970. He was an
internationally renowned pioneer in the utilization
of audio-visual materials in instruction. He also
made major research contributions in the teaching of
vocabulary and testing readability of texts. Jeanne S.
Chall, an OSU Ph.D. graduate who went on to
become a leading innovator in reading research.
Perhaps Professor Dale's most famous concept was
called the "cone of experience," a graphic depiction
of the relationship between how information is
presented in instruction and the outcomes for
learners.
- Take from the Ohio State University Website
http://ehe.osu.edu/edtl/about/tradition.cfm#dale

6.  First introduced in Dale’s
1946 book, Audio-Visual
Methods inTeaching
 Designed to “show the
progression of learning
experiences” (Dale (1969) p. 108)
from the concrete to the
abstract

7. CONCRETE LEARNING ABSTRACT LEARNING
 First-hand
experiences
 Learner has some
control over the
outcome
 Incorporates the use
of all five senses
 Difficulty when not
enough previous
experience or
exposure to a concep
 Every level of the
Cone uses abstract
thinking in come way

8. Intentions of the
Cone of
Experience
 Dale (1969) wrote that
 May lead to a more useful way
of thinking about audio visual
materials and their application
in the classroom
 The levels of the Cone are
interactive
 As one moves up the Cone
there is not necessarily an
increase in difficulty but rather
an increase in abstract thought

9. Mis-Conceptions of 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

10.  Enactive – direct experiences
 Direct, Purposeful
 Contrived
 Dramatized
 Iconic – pictorial experiences
 Demonstrations
 Study trips
 Exhibits
 Educational television
 Motion pictures
 Recordings, radio, still pictures
 Symbolic – highly abstract
experiences
 Visual symbols
 Verbal symbols

11. Direct and Purposeful
Experiences
 Direct, first hand
experiences
 Have direct
participation in the
outcome
 Use of all our
senses
 Examples:
 Working in a
homeless shelter
 Tutoring younger
children

12.  Models and mock-ups
 “editing of reality”
 Necessary when real
experience cannot be
used or are too
complicated
 Examples
 Use of a pilot simulator
 Mock up of an auto plant
to show the auto making
process

13.  Reconstructed experiences
 Can be used to simplify an
event or idea to its most
important parts
 Divided into two categories
 Acting – actual
participation (more
concrete)
 Observing – watching a
dramatization take place
(more abstract)
Monticello Students engaged in a mock trial

14. ICONIC EXPERIENCES ON THE CONE
 Progressively moving toward greater use of
imagination
 Successful use in a classroom depends on how
much imaginative involvement the method can
illicit from students
 Involves:
 Demonstrations
 Study trips
 Exhibits
 Motion pictures
 Educational television
 Radio, recordings, and still pictures

15. Very little immediate physical action
Difficult only if one doesn’t have enough
direct experience to support the symbol
Used at all levels of the Cone in varying
importance
Involves:
• Visual symbols
• Verbal symbols

16.  Cisco Systems, Incorporated. (2008). Multimodal learning through media: What the
research says. Fadel, C., & Lemke, C. Retrieved from
http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/Multimodal-Learning-Through-
Media.pdf on February 10, 2009.
 Dale, E. (1969). Audiovisual methods in teaching. New York: Dryden Press
 Dooley, K. (2005). Advanced methods in distance education: Applications and practices
for educators, administrators and learners. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.
 Heinich, R., Molenda, M., & Russell, J. D. (1989). Instructional media and the new
technologies of instruction. New York: Macmillan.
 Molenda, M. (2003). Cone of Experience. In Kovalchick, A., & Dawson, K. (Eds.).
Education and technology: An encyclopedia (p. 161-164). Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
 Seels, B. (1997). The relationship of media and ISD theory: The unrealized promise of
Dale’s cone of experience. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for
Educational Communications and Technology. Albuquerque, New Mexico. (ERIC
Document Reproducation Service No. ED409869)
 Turner, G. (2000). Teaching young adults: A handbook for teachers in further education.
Florence, KY: Routledge.
 Elaboration Theory - http://www.learning-theories.com/elaboration-theory-
reigeluth.html
 Anchored Instruction - http://tip.psychology.org/anchor.html