Edgar Dale introduced the Cone of Experience as a visual device meant to summarize Dale’s classification system for types of learning experiences. The organizing principle of the Cone was a progression from most concrete experiences (at the bottom of the cone) to most abstract (at the top). Dale's Cone of Experience is a model that incorporates several theories related to instructional designand learning processes.
The theory shows that learners retain more information by what they do as opposed to what is observed or read. By visualizing the cone, we can see that the top 10% represents peoople remembering what they have read. The next 20% down is what they have heard. After that, 30% of what they have seen. Then to the bottom of the cone, the widest part. People remember 90% of what they have performed as a task. This is a direct purposeful experience. Students will find it effective in learning while they experience it by themselves. Today, this “learning by doing” has become known as “experiential learning” or “action learning”.
Take an example. Educational field trips are most of the common strategies used by educators to enrich student learning because they get to experience it themselves.
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."
