Lesson VII

                              DIRECT, PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCES

     Whatever skills or concept we have did not come out of the blue. We spent hours doing the activity by ourselves in order to acquire the skill. The same thing is through with the four  (4)narrators above. They learned the skills by doing. The Graduate School Professor  had to do the computer task herself to learn the skill. The secretary learn from her mistake and repeatedly doing the task correctly enabled her to master the skill. The Grade IV pupil got a crystal clear concepts of the size of the elephant and giraffe. For the Grade VI teacher, the statistical concepts of positive and negative discrimination indices became fully understood only after the actual experience of item analysis. All these experiences point to the need to use, whenever we can, direct, purposeful experiences in the teaching – learning process.

     What are referred to as a direct, purposeful experience? These are our concrete and firsthand  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 generalization that gives meaning and order to our lives. (Dale. 1969). They are sensory experiences.

     These direct activities  may be preparing   meals , making a piece of furniture, doing power point presentation, performing a laboratory experiment, delivering a speech, or taking a trip.

     In contrast, indirect experiences are experiences of other people that we observe, read or hear about. They are not our own self – experiences but still experiences in the sense that we see , read hear about them. They are not firsthand but rather vicarious or indirect experiences .

     Climbing a mountain is a firsthand, direct experience. Seeing it done on films or reading about it is vicarious, substitute experience. It is clear, therefore, that we can approach the world of reality directly through the senses and indirectly with reduced sensory experience. For example, we can bake black forest cake or see it done in the tv or read about it.

     Why are these direct experiences described to be purposeful?  Purposeful because the experiences are not purely 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 questions that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the direct experience.

     They are also described as purposeful because these experiences are undergone in relation to a purpose, i.e. learning. Why do we want our students to have a direct experience in conducting an experiment in the laboratory? It is done in the relation to a certain learning objective.

     Where should these direct , purposeful experience lead us to? The title of this lesson “direct, Purposeful Experiences and Beyond” implies that these direct experiences must not be the period or the dead end. We must be brought to a higher plane. The higher plane referred  to here is the level of generalization and abstraction.

     That is why we speak of “hands – on, minds – on, and hearts – on” approach. Out of the direct experience , thoughts or meanings following reflection must flow or run the risk  of a lesson consisting of activity after another activity enjoyed by the learners who cannot make connection with the activity themselves.

     The Grade IV pupils zoo experience of the elephant  and giraffe as given in the ACTIVITY phase of the lesson enables him to understand clearly and visualize correctly an elephant and a giraffe upon reading or hearing the words “elephant” and “giraffe”. The  Cone of experience implies that we move from the concrete to the abstract (and from the abstract to the concrete as well.)  Direct experiences serves as the foundation of concepts formation, generalization and abstraction. John Dewey (1916) has made this fundamental point succinctly.

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

     If direct, purposeful experiences or firsthand sensory experiences make us learn concepts and skills.