This document summarizes Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience, which illustrates that learners retain more information through hands-on experience compared to passive learning methods. At the bottom of the cone is direct purposeful experience, where learners retain 90% of information. Moving up the cone, retention rates decrease for methods like demonstrations (70%), exhibits (50%), and verbal symbols (10%) which provide the least engagement. The cone is a tool to help instructors choose activities that maximize learner retention by incorporating multiple senses and keeping learners close to real-world experiences.

1. THE
“CONE OF EXPERIENCE”
EDGAR DALE

2. What is Dale’s Cone of
Experience?
 The cone of experience is a pictorial device use to explain the
interrelationships of the various types of audio-visual media,
as well as their individual “positions” in the learning process.
 EDGAR DALE theorized that learners retain more
information by what they “do” as opposed to what they
“heard” “read” or “observed”.
 “Learning by doing” has become known as “experiential
learning “ or “action learning”.

3. PEOPLE GENERALLY REMEMBER:
10% OF WHAT THEY READ
20% OF WHAT THEY HEARD
30% OF WHAT THEY SEE
50% OF WHAT THEY SEE AND HEARD
70% OF WHAT THEY SAY AND WRITE
90% OF WHAT THEY SAY AS THEY DO

4. Cone of Experience
People Generally
Remember
People are able to:
(Learning Outcomes)

6. DIRECT PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCE
 Direct participation with responsibility for the outcome.
 It is the first hand experience which serve as the foundation
of our learning. It is learning by doing. We build up our
reservoir of meaningful information and ideas through
seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.
DISADVANTAGE:
Not all things can be learned through direct, first hand
experiencing.

7. CONTRIVED EXPERIENCE
 An editing of reality.
 We make use of a representative models or mock-ups of reality.
 Disadvantage:
Simplification leads to misconceptions, distorted views and
incomplete pictures of reality no freedom to handle expensive
or fragile models, mock-ups, specimens, etc.

8. DRAMATIZED EXPERIENCE
Participated learns to understand intimately
the character he portrays.
Help get closer to certain realities that are no
longer available at first hand.
DISADVANTAGE:
Time consuming without
commensurate results participation is limited.

9. DEMONSTRATIONS:
 May require nothing more than observation or student may
be asked to do what has just been shown how to do.
 It is a visualized explanation of an important fact, idea, or
process by the use of photographs, drawing, films, displays or
guided motions.
 DISADVANTAGE:
Ideas or processes might not be interpreted or conceived
very well visibility to all learners.

10. FIELD TRIPS
 Undertaken primarily for the purpose of experiencing
something that cannot be encountered within the
classroom.
 These are excursions, educational trips, and visits
conducted to observe an event that is unavailable
within the classroom.
 Disadvantages: time-consuming, expensive, high
exposure to dangers accidents inadequacy of the
community’s resources.

11. EXHIBITS
 There are displays to be seen by spectators. They
may consists of working models arranged
meaningfully or photographs with models, charts
and posters.
 Present objects or processes otherwise impossible
inside the classroom.
 Exposure to new ideas, discoveries, inventions.
 Disadvantages: to little space, time-consuming
maintenance.

12. MOTION PICTURES and TELEVISION
 Provides “windows to the world”.
 Effective for presenting movement, continuity of
ideas or events.
 Reconstruct the reality of the past so effectively
that we are made to feel we are there.
 Limitations: Expensive, viewing problems, timing
with classroom lessons, misconceptions about time,
size, and ideas.

13. RECORDINGS, RADIO, STILL PICTURES
Attention-getting, particularly projected
views.
Limitations: Size of pictures or illustrations
expensiveness of projected materials and
equipment timing difficulties between radio
shows and classroom lessons.

14. VISUAL SYMBOLS
Chalkboard/whiteboard, flat maps, diagrams,
charts.
Fits the tempo of presentation of idea, topic
or situation.
Limitations: lack of ability to use the media
size of visuals simplication of visual materials
leads to misconceptions.
0
5
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3

15. VERBAL SYMBOLS
 Principal medium of communication.
Bear no physical resemblance to the objects
or ideas for which they stand.
They usually do not contain visual clues to
their meaning.
Disadvantage: highly abstract.

16. Principles of the cone of experience
• The cone is based on the relationship of various
educational experiences to reality (real life), and the
bottom level of the cone, “direct purposeful
experiences” represents reality or the closest things
to real, everyday life.
• The opportunity for a learner to use a variety or
several senses (sight, smell, hearing, touching,
movement) is considered in the cone.

17. • The more sensory channels possible in interacting with a
resource, the better the chance that many students can learn
from it.
• The cone charts the average retention rate for various
methods of teaching. The further you progress down the
cone, the greater the learning and the more information is
likely to be retained.
• Dale’s cone of experience is a tool to help instructors make
decisions about resources and activities.

18. The instructor can ask the following:
 Where will the students experience with this
instructional resource fit on the cone? How far is it
removed from real life?
 What kind of learning experience do you want to
provide in the classroom?
 What and how many sense can students use to learn
this instructional material?
 Does the instructional material enhance learning?

19. THE
END
PREPARED BY: GIRLIE A. TROGO
BEED PSED 2A