Direct, Purposeful Experiences and Beyond - PowerPoint Presentation

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Direct, Purposeful Experiences and Beyond

“From the rich experiences that our senses bring, we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives.”

-Edgar Dale-Slide2

DIRECT- effected by the action of the people or the electorate and not by representatives.

PURPOSEFUL-

an object or result aim at or to propose as an aim to oneself.

EXPERIENCE-

observation or practice resulting in or tending toward knowledge.

BEYOND-

on or to the farther side of.Slide3

What are referred to as direct, purposeful experiences?

These are our concrete and first hand experiences that make up the foundation of our learning.

These are the rich experiences that our senses bring from which we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives.(Dale,1969)Slide4

Preparing mealsSlide5

Making a piece of furnitureSlide6

Performing a laboratory experimentSlide7

Delivering a speechSlide8

Taking a tripSlide9
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In

contrast, indirect experiences

are experience

of other… people that

we observe,

read or hear about. They are

not our

experiences but still experiences in

the sense

that we see, read and hear

about them.

They are not first hand but

rather vicarious.

Climbing

a mountain is first

hand, direct

experience. Seeing it done

in films

or reading about it is

vicarious, substitute experiment. It is clear therefore, that we can approach the world of reality through the senses and indirectly with reduced sensory experience.Slide11

Why are these direct experiences described to be purposeful?

The experiences are not mechanical.

They are not a matter of going through the motion.

These are not “mere sensory excitation”.

They are experiences that are internalized in the sense that these experiences involved the asking of question that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the direct experience.

These experiences are undergone in relation to a purpose, i.e. learning.Slide12

John Dewey (1916) has made this fundamental point succinctly:

“

An ounce of experience is better than a ton of theory because it is only in experience that a theory has vital and verifiable significance. An experience, a very humble experience, is capable of generating and carrying an amount of theory (or intellectual content), but a theory apart from experience cannot be definitely grasped as a theory. It tends to render thinking, or genuine theorizing unnecessary and impossible”Slide13

John Dewey (1916)

(;

FAA October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform

.

is one of the primary figures associated with philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the founders of functional psychology

.

A well-known public

intellectual.

he was also a major voice of progressive education and liberalism

.

is known best for his publications about education, he also wrote about many other topics, including epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, art, logic, social theory, and ethics.Slide14
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If direct, purposeful experiences or firsthand sensory experiences make us learn concepts and skillsSlide16

Let

us give our students opportunities to learn by doing. Let us immerse our students in the world of experience

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

Let us help our students develop the five senses to the full to heighten their sensitivity to the world

Let us guide our students so that they can draw meaning from their first hand experiences and elevate their level of thinking.Slide17

Summing Up

Direct

experiences are first

hand experiences

that serve as the foundation

of learning.

The opposite of direct

experiences are

indirect or vicarious

experiences.

Direct

experiences lead us to

concept formation

and abstraction. We should

not end

our lessons knowing only the

concrete. We

go beyond the concrete by reaching

the level

of abstract concepts.Slide18
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Any principle you learned from the Principle of Teaching that connects to learning by direct experience?

Our lack of understanding is often due to our lack of attention. Our lack of attention is usually due to a failure in the use of our senses. Connect this to firsthand or sensory experience.Slide20

Emerson wrote: Seven men went through a field, one after another.

One was

a farmer, he saw only the grass; the next was

an astronomer,

he saw the horizon and the stars; the

physician noticed

the standing water and suspected miasma; he

was followed

by a soldier, who glanced over the ground, found it

easy to

hold, and saw in a moment how the troops could be

disposed; then

came the geologist, who noticed the boulders and the

sandy loam;

after him came the real-estate broker, who bethought

him how

the line of the houses lots should run, where would be

the driveway, and the stables. The poet admired the shadows cast

by some trees, and still more the music of some thrushes and the meadow lark. What does this paragraph imply about people’s

interpretation of the concrete? How can we arrive at a more accurate interpretation of what we experience?