Gardner’s theory of multiple Intelligences

Psychologists consider intelligence to be the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. It is also often defined as our intellectual potential; something we are born with, something that can be measured and capacity that is difficult to change. However, in recent years, other theories and concept of intelligence have emerged and one of such conception is the theory of multiple intelligences. As children develop from childhood to adulthood, the child relates to his environment and one of the concepts that can’t be overlooked in every child’s development is art.

However, the theory and practice of art in the development of children seems to have some correlation with the theory propounded by Gardner; the theory of multiple intelligence.

Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence

The theory of multiple intelligence was propounded by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book Frames of Minds; The theory of Multiple Intelligences, as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into specific modalities rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability. This theory has emerged from cognitive research and “documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways,” (Gardner 1991).

Gardner argues that, there is a wide range of cognitive abilities and that there are only very weak correlations among them. For instance, the theory postulates that a child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on the same task. The child who is slow in mastering multiplications may best learn it through another approach that gives him a deeper understanding of the multiplication concept at a fundamental deeper level or may even excel outside the field of mathematics. The child that uses the other approach to understand the multiplication process at a fundamental deeper level may be slow and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher than that of a child who quickly memorizes the multiplication table without understanding the process of multiplication.

Gardner says that these differences “challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well.” Gardner argues that “a contrasting set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally effective. Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students – and perhaps the society as a whole – would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.

 Gardner proposed that there are eight intelligences, and has suggested the possible addition of a ninth known as “existentialist intelligence”. The learning styles are as follows:

Verbal -Linguistic                                                                                                           

Linguistic intelligence allows individuals to communicate and make sense of the world through language. Poets exemplify this intelligence in its mature form. Students who enjoy playing with rhymes, who pun, who always have a story to tell, who quickly acquire other languages–including sign language–all exhibit linguistic intelligence.

Logical- Mathematical                                                                                                         

Logical-mathematical intelligence enables individuals to use and appreciate abstract relations. Scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers all rely on this intelligence. So do the students who “live” baseball statistics or who carefully analyze the components of problems–either personal or school-related before systematically testing solutions.

Visual -Spatial                                                                                                                      

Visual-Spatial intelligence makes it possible for people to perceive visual or spatial information, to transform this information, and to recreate visual images from memory. Well-developed spatial capacities are needed for the work of architects, sculptors, and engineers. The students who turn first to the graphs, charts, and pictures in their textbooks, who like to “web” their ideas before writing a paper, and who fill the blank space around their notes with intricate patterns are also using their spatial intelligence. While usually tied to the visual modality, spatial intelligence can also be exercised to a high level by individuals who are visually impaired.

Bodily-Kinesthetic                                                                                                                    Body Kinesthetic intelligence allows individuals to use all or part of the body to create products or solve problems. Athletes, surgeons, dancers, choreographers, and crafts people all use bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. The capacity is also evident in students who relish gym class and school dances, who prefer to carry out class projects by making models rather than writing reports, and who toss crumbled paper with frequency and accuracy into wastebaskets across the room.

Musical-Rhythmic                                                                                                                Musical intelligence allows people to create, communicate, and understand meanings made out of sound. While composers and instrumentalists clearly exhibit this intelligence, so do the students who seem particularly attracted by the birds singing outside the classroom window or who constantly tap out intricate rhythms on the desk with their pencils.

 

Inter-personal                                                                                                                      Interpersonal intelligence enables individuals to recognize and make distinctions about others’ feelings and intentions. Teachers, parents, politicians, psychologists and salespeople rely on interpersonal intelligence. Students exhibit this intelligence when they thrive on small-group work, when they notice and react to the moods of their friends and classmates, and when they tactfully convince the teacher of their need for extra time to complete the homework assignment.

 

Intra-personal                                                                                                                      Intrapersonal intelligence helps individuals to distinguish among their own feelings, to build accurate mental models of themselves, and to draw on these models to make decisions about their lives. Although it is difficult to assess who has this capacity and to what degree, evidence can be sought in students’ uses of their other intelligences–how well they seem to be capitalizing on their strengths, how cognizant they are of their weaknesses, and how thoughtful they are about the decisions and choices they make.

Naturalistic                                                                                                                            Naturalistic intelligence allows people to distinguish among, classify, and use features of the environment. Farmers, gardeners, botanists, geologists, florists, and archaeologists all exhibit this intelligence. This area has to do with nurturing and relating information to one’s natural surroundings. Examples include classifying natural forms such as animal and plant species and rocks and mountain types; and the applied knowledge of nature in farming, mining, etc.

Gardner claimed that the eight intelligences rarely operate independently. They are used at the same time and tend to complement each other as people develop skills or solve problems.

Art and child development

Art can be defined as the way something is done; “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments or experience that are shared with others” (Britannica online). Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time; according to Thomas Merton in his book No Man is an Island.

Child development on the other hand refers to the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy.  

“Observation of children shows that their activity is of two main kinds; children delight in making new movements, but they also find pleasure in repeating old ones. They are endowed with two very different tendencies; to explore the unknown and to consolidate the known. At one moment they are experimental and progressive; at another they are humdrum and conservative. These two general tendencies are often called respectively the creative tendency and the routine tendency.”(A. G. Hughes 1959) It can therefore be concluded that every child can be creative and since creativity is an element of art, art if properly used can help solve psychological and emotional challenges that is always connected to the development of children.

According to an article Via the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, all of the benefits associated with children learning art while they are young and the impact it has on their lives are outlined. The following include some of the benefits.

• Art stimulates both sides of the brain.
• There are studies that show that kids, who make art, read better and get better grades in science and mathematics.
• The kids learn by using their senses and art is ideal in this process
• The kids need a place to express themselves at school and art offers that platform.
• Art promotes self esteem
• Art encourages kids to give more attention to the physical space that surround them.
• Art develops hand and eye coordination.
• Art stimulates perception.
• Art teaches them to think openly. It represents a culture of questioners more than a culture of responders.
• Art teaches that there is more than one solution for a problem.
• Art teaches kids to think creatively to solve problems.
• Kids can share and reflect on their work of art and learn something about the world they live in.
• When art is integrated with the other subjects in the curriculum, kids commit more to the learning process.
• Art nourishes the human soul. One feels good doing it.

Therefore, art if well handled in respect to child development can help children to be able to use every part of the body to come up with solutions to challenges that we face in our everyday life.

Discussion and conclusion

Critically analyzing Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and art and child development, one can easily create a strong link between the two. Gardner in his theory simply says intellectuality should not be generalized since learning can be done with several approaches.

Gardner in his theory was looking at allowing people to use their abilities (their area of intelligence) to solve other problems with more fundamental understanding. In his theory, it can be said that the styles of learning as proposed are related to each other in understanding and solving issues. This means that, the theory of multiple intelligences is of the view that area of intelligences needs to be invoked and effectively used to solve a problem.

Nonetheless, in analyzing art and how it imparts on the development of children, one can say that art helps one to fully waken up potentials and abilities. Art make use of the senses and most of the part of the body if not all to solve problems. Therefore Gardner in his quest to develop a theory ended up re-defining art and its importance.

Art has always been the basic way to help children understand concepts. For instance, the child that could not understand the multiplication process because he can’t memorize can use drawings to come by the fundamental underpinnings of the process. E.g. 2×3=? This is mathematics but art can be used to effectively articulate the comprehension and arriving at a result. Drawing two oranges closely three times can be used since the math just means two of something three times. The child can therefore count the drawn oranges to arrive at the result with a deeper understanding.

Again, to teach gravitational force, you can simply ask a child to draw a tree and make a fruit fall from the tree. If a child is told after this is done that, the force that makes a fruit fall downward from trees is gravity, they will best understand the concept.

In conclusion, there is nothing like an “intellectually poor students”, it is just a matter of helping the child develop fully his potentials (learning style/intelligence area) in other to appreciate better the subject at stake and conceptualizing theories and formulae. Both Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence and art and child development are related since they both accepts the facts that a child must be allowed and made to psychologically, emotionally and biological express himself to fully harness their various intelligences.

Author: Richard Gyan-Mante

 

 

 

 

References:

• Learning and Teaching. An introduction to psychology and Education. A.G. Hughes pg.9
• Thinking About Psychology. The science of mind and Behavior. Second Edition. Charles T. Blair and Randal M. Ernst. Pg. 536, 537
• The Importance of Art in a Child’s Development. MaryAnn F. Kohl
• Gardner, H (1999) Multiple Intelligence for the 21^st century, New York. Basic Books.
• Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008) ‘Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences’, the encyclopedia of informal education, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.
• The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide,” by Carla Lane
• 20 Reasons Why Art is Important for Children. Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland

GARDNER’S THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AND ITS EFFECTS ON ART AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Psychologists consider intelligence to be the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. It is also often defined as our intellectual potential; something we are born with, something that can be measured and capacity that is difficult to change. However, in recent years, other theories and concept of intelligence have emerged and one of such conception is the theory of multiple intelligences. As children develop from childhood to adulthood, the child relates to his environment and one of the concepts that can’t be overlooked in every child’s development is art.

However, the theory and practice of art in the development of children seems to have some correlation with the theory propounded by Gardner; the theory of multiple intelligence.

Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence

The theory of multiple intelligence was propounded by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book Frames of Minds; The theory of Multiple Intelligences, as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into specific modalities rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability. This theory has emerged from cognitive research and “documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways,” (Gardner 1991).

Gardner argues that, there is a wide range of cognitive abilities and that there are only very weak correlations among them. For instance, the theory postulates that a child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on the same task. The child who is slow in mastering multiplications may best learn it through another approach that gives him a deeper understanding of the multiplication concept at a fundamental deeper level or may even excel outside the field of mathematics. The child that uses the other approach to understand the multiplication process at a fundamental deeper level may be slow and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher than that of a child who quickly memorizes the multiplication table without understanding the process of multiplication.

Gardner says that these differences “challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well.” Gardner argues that “a contrasting set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally effective. Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students – and perhaps the society as a whole – would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.

 Gardner proposed that there are eight intelligences, and has suggested the possible addition of a ninth known as “existentialist intelligence”. The learning styles are as follows:

Verbal -Linguistic                                                                                                           

Linguistic intelligence allows individuals to communicate and make sense of the world through language. Poets exemplify this intelligence in its mature form. Students who enjoy playing with rhymes, who pun, who always have a story to tell, who quickly acquire other languages–including sign language–all exhibit linguistic intelligence.

Logical- Mathematical                                                                                                         

Logical-mathematical intelligence enables individuals to use and appreciate abstract relations. Scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers all rely on this intelligence. So do the students who “live” baseball statistics or who carefully analyze the components of problems–either personal or school-related before systematically testing solutions.

Visual -Spatial                                                                                                                      

Visual-Spatial intelligence makes it possible for people to perceive visual or spatial information, to transform this information, and to recreate visual images from memory. Well-developed spatial capacities are needed for the work of architects, sculptors, and engineers. The students who turn first to the graphs, charts, and pictures in their textbooks, who like to “web” their ideas before writing a paper, and who fill the blank space around their notes with intricate patterns are also using their spatial intelligence. While usually tied to the visual modality, spatial intelligence can also be exercised to a high level by individuals who are visually impaired.

Bodily-Kinesthetic                                                                                                                    Body Kinesthetic intelligence allows individuals to use all or part of the body to create products or solve problems. Athletes, surgeons, dancers, choreographers, and crafts people all use bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. The capacity is also evident in students who relish gym class and school dances, who prefer to carry out class projects by making models rather than writing reports, and who toss crumbled paper with frequency and accuracy into wastebaskets across the room.

Musical-Rhythmic                                                                                                                Musical intelligence allows people to create, communicate, and understand meanings made out of sound. While composers and instrumentalists clearly exhibit this intelligence, so do the students who seem particularly attracted by the birds singing outside the classroom window or who constantly tap out intricate rhythms on the desk with their pencils.

 

Inter-personal                                                                                                                      Interpersonal intelligence enables individuals to recognize and make distinctions about others’ feelings and intentions. Teachers, parents, politicians, psychologists and salespeople rely on interpersonal intelligence. Students exhibit this intelligence when they thrive on small-group work, when they notice and react to the moods of their friends and classmates, and when they tactfully convince the teacher of their need for extra time to complete the homework assignment.

 

Intra-personal                                                                                                                      Intrapersonal intelligence helps individuals to distinguish among their own feelings, to build accurate mental models of themselves, and to draw on these models to make decisions about their lives. Although it is difficult to assess who has this capacity and to what degree, evidence can be sought in students’ uses of their other intelligences–how well they seem to be capitalizing on their strengths, how cognizant they are of their weaknesses, and how thoughtful they are about the decisions and choices they make.

Naturalistic                                                                                                                            Naturalistic intelligence allows people to distinguish among, classify, and use features of the environment. Farmers, gardeners, botanists, geologists, florists, and archaeologists all exhibit this intelligence. This area has to do with nurturing and relating information to one’s natural surroundings. Examples include classifying natural forms such as animal and plant species and rocks and mountain types; and the applied knowledge of nature in farming, mining, etc.

Gardner claimed that the eight intelligences rarely operate independently. They are used at the same time and tend to complement each other as people develop skills or solve problems.

Art and child development

Art can be defined as the way something is done; “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments or experience that are shared with others” (Britannica online). Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time; according to Thomas Merton in his book No Man is an Island.

Child development on the other hand refers to the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy.  

“Observation of children shows that their activity is of two main kinds; children delight in making new movements, but they also find pleasure in repeating old ones. They are endowed with two very different tendencies; to explore the unknown and to consolidate the known. At one moment they are experimental and progressive; at another they are humdrum and conservative. These two general tendencies are often called respectively the creative tendency and the routine tendency.”(A. G. Hughes 1959) It can therefore be concluded that every child can be creative and since creativity is an element of art, art if properly used can help solve psychological and emotional challenges that is always connected to the development of children.

According to an article Via the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, all of the benefits associated with children learning art while they are young and the impact it has on their lives are outlined. The following include some of the benefits.

• Art stimulates both sides of the brain.
• There are studies that show that kids, who make art, read better and get better grades in science and mathematics.
• The kids learn by using their senses and art is ideal in this process
• The kids need a place to express themselves at school and art offers that platform.
• Art promotes self esteem
• Art encourages kids to give more attention to the physical space that surround them.
• Art develops hand and eye coordination.
• Art stimulates perception.
• Art teaches them to think openly. It represents a culture of questioners more than a culture of responders.
• Art teaches that there is more than one solution for a problem.
• Art teaches kids to think creatively to solve problems.
• Kids can share and reflect on their work of art and learn something about the world they live in.
• When art is integrated with the other subjects in the curriculum, kids commit more to the learning process.
• Art nourishes the human soul. One feels good doing it.

Therefore, art if well handled in respect to child development can help children to be able to use every part of the body to come up with solutions to challenges that we face in our everyday life.

Discussion and conclusion

Critically analyzing Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and art and child development, one can easily create a strong link between the two. Gardner in his theory simply says intellectuality should not be generalized since learning can be done with several approaches.

Gardner in his theory was looking at allowing people to use their abilities (their area of intelligence) to solve other problems with more fundamental understanding. In his theory, it can be said that the styles of learning as proposed are related to each other in understanding and solving issues. This means that, the theory of multiple intelligences is of the view that area of intelligences needs to be invoked and effectively used to solve a problem.

Nonetheless, in analyzing art and how it imparts on the development of children, one can say that art helps one to fully waken up potentials and abilities. Art make use of the senses and most of the part of the body if not all to solve problems. Therefore Gardner in his quest to develop a theory ended up re-defining art and its importance.

Art has always been the basic way to help children understand concepts. For instance, the child that could not understand the multiplication process because he can’t memorize can use drawings to come by the fundamental underpinnings of the process. E.g. 2×3=? This is mathematics but art can be used to effectively articulate the comprehension and arriving at a result. Drawing two oranges closely three times can be used since the math just means two of something three times. The child can therefore count the drawn oranges to arrive at the result with a deeper understanding.

Again, to teach gravitational force, you can simply ask a child to draw a tree and make a fruit fall from the tree. If a child is told after this is done that, the force that makes a fruit fall downward from trees is gravity, they will best understand the concept.

In conclusion, there is nothing like an “intellectually poor students”, it is just a matter of helping the child develop fully his potentials (learning style/intelligence area) in other to appreciate better the subject at stake and conceptualizing theories and formulae. Both Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence and art and child development are related since they both accepts the facts that a child must be allowed and made to psychologically, emotionally and biological express himself to fully harness their various intelligences.

 

 

 

 

References:

• Learning and Teaching. An introduction to psychology and Education. A.G. Hughes pg.9
• Thinking About Psychology. The science of mind and Behavior. Second Edition. Charles T. Blair and Randal M. Ernst. Pg. 536, 537
• The Importance of Art in a Child’s Development. MaryAnn F. Kohl
• Gardner, H (1999) Multiple Intelligence for the 21^st century, New York. Basic Books.
• Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008) ‘Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences’, the encyclopedia of informal education, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.
• The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide,” by Carla Lane
• 20 Reasons Why Art is Important for Children. Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland

DALE’S CONE OF EXPERIENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING

DALE’S CONE OF EXPERIENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING.

DALE’S CONE OF EXPERIENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING

 

Dale’s Cone of Experience is a model that incorporates several theories related to instructional design and learning processes.  During the 1960s, Edgar Dale theorized that learners retain more information by what they “do” as opposed to what is “heard”, “read” or “observed”.  His research led to the development of the Cone of Experience. The Cone was originally developed in 1946 and was intended as a way to describe various learning experiences. Essentially, the Cone shows the progression of experiences from the most concrete (at the bottom of the cone) to the most abstract (at the top of the cone).

When Dale researched learning and teaching methods he found that much of what we found to be true of direct and indirect (and of concrete and abstract) experience could be summarised in a pyramid or ‘pictorial device’. He stated that the cone was not offered as a perfect or mechanically flawless picture to be taken absolutely literally. It was merely designed as a visual aid to help explain the interrelationships of the various types of audio-visual materials, as well as their individual ‘positions’ in the learning process.

 It is important to note that Dale never intended the Cone to depict a value judgment of experiences; in other words, his argument was not that more concrete experiences were better than more abstract ones. Dale believed that any and all of the approaches could and should be used, depending on the needs of the learner.

 

 

Dr. Bilash Bio argues that the figure above shows what students will be able to do at each level of the Cone (the learning outcomes they will be able to achieve) relative to the type of activity they are doing (reading, hearing, viewing images, etc.). The numerical figures on the left side of the image, what people will generally remember indicate that practical, hands-on experience in a real-life context will allow students to remember best what they do. Again, it is important to remember that this doesn’t mean reading and listening are not valuable learning experiences, simply that “doing the real thing” can lead to the retention of the largest amount of information. This is in part because those experiences near the bottom of the Cone, closer to and including real-world experiences, make use of more of our senses; it is believed that the more senses that are used, the greater our ability to learn from and remember an event or experience.

“It has been well said that “teaching” means “causing to learn.” Nothing has been given until it has been taken; nothing has been taught until it has been learnt. Teaching is more than the efficient delivery of thoroughly prepared lectures, and a clear realisation of this simple fact will save many beginners in the art of teaching from much disappointment.” (Hughes 1959 ) This clearly points us to the fact that until a theory or concept you are relaying to a pupil or a group of pupils have been understood, you have not actually taught.

“Teaching is the process by which the teacher brings the learner and the subject together. Therefore, there are three focal points in teaching- the teacher, the learner and the subject. The entire process of teaching can be reduced to something simple enough to be both understandable and useful. This reduction is provided in the form of teaching model. This model consists of the teacher, the student, the subject, teacher preparation and the teaching process.” Annoh 2003

Hughes argues that knowledge of how children learn is the first essential for success in teaching. The teacher helps children in school to develop intellect, character, skill, taste and sociability. We teach them knowledge, habits, ideals, skills, attitudes, manners. By this statement, teachers help them to adjust themselves to their environments- spiritual, social and material. This view of education as adjustment puts us, as teachers, in our proper position. We are subsidiary to the process of learning, for in this process there are two factors- a child on the one hand and his world on the other. The teacher’s function is to bring the two into contact, to help to put them en rapport.

In some respects teaching is like lighting a fire. We bring heat to paper to enable it to start combining with the oxygen in its environment. In the classroom our function is similar; we bring to bear various teaching devices with a view to producing a “flash” between each child and some part of his environment. The essential activity is not the adjustment of child to teacher but of child to world.

Adamson affirms this by saying; the whole business is between the individual and his worlds, and the teacher is outside it, external to it. He may facilitate it, turning his attention to one or other member of the wedded pair. He may approach the individual, and his avenues of approach will be one or other of the instincts or emotional dispositions which are the prime movers of mental life. But whether he tries subject or object or both together he remains outside the process, a spectator, a manipulator, perhaps a disturber; he is never in it and of it. Within that mysterious synthetic activity through which the individual is at once appropriating and contributing to his environment, forming and being formed by it… the teacher has neither place nor part. For instance, when we teach children the geometry of the circle, that is, when we enable children to learn it, we do not instill into them a fraction of our own knowledge; we put them en rapport with geometric facts about circles. We arrange and present certain data; we do this in ways that excite the children’s interests; their minds then play with these data and as they do so flashes of illumination, or at least glows of dim understanding, are produced. If this does not happen, the children have not learnt the lesson we set out to teach them.

Hughes continues that, a growing appreciation of the subsidiary nature of the teacher’s function has led many reformers to belittle the value of teaching. Children, we are told, must be left free to express themselves; they must discover knowledge for themselves; the only true education is self –education. Teachers, we are told, must stand aside; they must talk less, explain less, direct less, and correct less. All this is a very natural and a very necessary reaction against much traditional classroom practice. It must be emphasized, however, that teachers are not as superfluous as some enthusiasts suggest; teaching is not as undesirable as it is sometimes represented to be. It is true that children are by nature curious, assertive and creative, but they are also submissive, imitative and ready to appeal for help. It follows, therefore, that we are not necessarily working contrary to child nature when we teach. We must , however, know when to teach and when to stand aside, when to explain and when to leave children to make discoveries, when to demonstrate and when to leave children free to experiment , when to require children to listen and when to give them scope for free expression. No simple rule can be formulated on this matter; teaching is an art and correct procedure in given circumstances depend upon the whole situation.

We can realize that without understanding, teaching because ineffective and it misses it purpose. This means that the appropriate models needed to reach learners at the appropriate time must be an essential avenue to employ. The teacher’s work is that of a disturber or a facilitator that brings the learner to the subject or object (world/environment). This brings to bear what William Arthur Ward said; “the mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

Looking at Dale’s cone of Experience, one can realize that there can be numbers of model that can be used by the teacher to reach the learner depending on the learners need. From the top, the models are in their abstract nature although not useless; teachers bring the world to the learner by the use of what they read, hear, view among others. Considering effective teaching in the eyes of what Hughes and Adamson said earlier in this discourse, “the only true education is self education” where the learner is allowed to discover knowledge for themselves with some guide. Self expression propels effective teaching however the models from the top of Dale’s cone of Experience do not allow that. I’m not surprised Dale allocated lesser percentages to those models. There is a Chinese adage that goes “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.” This is in line with Dale’s cone of Experience because at the bottom of the cone where the greater percentages were allocated, the model allows the learner to get involved with the subject under consideration.

“I am more interested in arousing enthusiasm in kids than in teaching the facts. The facts may change, but that enthusiasm for exploring the world will remain with them the rest of their lives” Seymour Simon. This saying is just appropriate and it brings both Dale’s cone of experience which encourages involving the learner in the learning process and effective teaching which want the teacher to do the facilitation while the learner expresses themselves in line. Albert Einstein said this many years ago “I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn”. For effective teaching to be realized, the learner must understand by getting involved while the teacher provides the condition. In line with effective teaching that encourages self expression, Galileo said “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself” and Dave Cullen continues by saying “You can’t really teach a kid anything; you can only show him the way and motivate him to learn it himself.”

The sensory organs must be awakening in other for retention and understanding to take place. Dale’s cone of Experience provides teaching and learning models that allows teachers to understand how to increase the retention rate of learners by involving the learner. This means that while the learner participate and get involved in the learning process by expression, they awaken the sensory organs. This cone of Experience goes hand in hand with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences which says that you can’t reach learners with a style of learning but several. The several styles therefore helps awaken the sensory organs of each learner and helps him or her achieve self education.

This further explains the necessity of education through art. When children are taught by the use of art, they are allowed to express themselves and awaken the sensory organs. With art, most complex theories can be understood by learners since they are involved with the process. Teachers must therefore understand Dale’s cone of experience in order to increase retention and understanding since this means effective teaching.

References

• http://www.etsu.edu/uged/etsu1000/documents/Dales_Cone_of_Experience.pdf
• http://web.mnstate.edu/instrtech/SCmodules/LearningObjectives/LearningObjectives3.html
• http://teacherworld.com/potdale.html
• http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20bilash/dalescone.html
• http://rapidbi.com/coneofexperience-dale/
• Dale, Edgar.  Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching, 3rd ed.,  Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1969, p. 108
• A. G. Hughes and E. H. Hughes. Leaning and Teaching; An introduction to psychology and Education, 3^rd Ed. 1959
• The individual and his Environment, J.E. Adamson, pp26 (Longmans, 1921)
• Education Studies, Kwaku Annoh, pp 177