Lesson 7

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?

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 involve 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 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.