DIRECT,
PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCES AND BEYOND
WHAT ARE REFFERED TO
AS DIRECT, PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCES?
These are our concrete and firsthand experiences that make
out 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) 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 and hear
about them. They are not firsthand but rather vicarious exp
experiences.
Climbing a mountain is firsthand, direct experience. Seeing
it done in film or reading about it is vicarious, substitute experience. It is
clear, therefore, that we can approach the world of reality direct through the
senses and indirectly with reduced sensory experience. For example we can make
bake black forest cake or see it done in the t.v or read about it.
WHY ARE THESE DIRECT
EXPERIENCES DESCRIBED TO BE PURPOSEFUL?

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 relation to a certain learning objective.
Where should these direct, purposeful experiences 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 end. We
must be brought to the higher plane. The higher plane referred to here is the
level of generalization and abstraction.
An ounce of experience
is better than a ton of theory because it is only in experience than any theory
has vital and verifiable experience. 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
EFFECTIVELY, WHAT DOES THIS IMPLY TO THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS?
First, let us give our students opportunities to learn by
doing. Let us immerse our students in the world of experience. Second, let us
make use of real things as instructional materials for as long as we can.
Third, let us help the students develop the first five senses to the full to
heighten their sensitivity to the world. Fourth, let us guide our students so
that they can draw meaning from their firsthand experiences and elevate their
level of thinking. As mentioned in Lesson 5, let us not be tempted to get stuck
to the concrete and fail to bring up our students’ to the higher level of
thinking process.
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