Lesson 8: Teaching with Contrived Experiences

Contrived experiences

•      These are the edited copies of reality and are used as substitutes for real things when it is not practical or possible to bring or do the real thing in the classroom.
•      Designed to stimulate real life situations

Contrived Experiences

- Model

- Mock up

- Specimen

- Simulation

- Object

- Game

Model 

• A reproduction of a real thing in a small scale, or a large scale or exact size- but made of synthetic materials. It is a substitute for a real thing which may or may not operational –Brown, et. al, 1969                          

Mock up   

• An arrangement of a real device or associated devices, displayed in such way that representation of reality is created. 
• An Special model where the parts of a model are singled out, heightened and magnified in order to focus on that part or process under study.

Example:

  Planetarium

Specimen
Any individual or item considered typically of a group, class, or whole.

Object

• May also include artifacts displayed in a museum or objective displayed in exhibits or preserved insect specimens in science

Simulation

• A representation of a manageable real event in which the learner is an active participant engage in learning a behavior or in applying previously acquired skills or knowledge  -Orlich et. al, 1994
• Another instructional material included in contrived experiences is game

Games  are use in any of these purposes

1. To practice and/or to refine knowledge/skills already acquired
2. To identify gaps and weaknesses in knowledge or skills
3. To serve as a summation or review
4. To develop new relationships among concepts and principles

Why do we make use of contrived experiences?

1. Overcome limitations of space and time
2. To edit reality for us to be able to focus on parts or process of a system that we intend to study. 
3. To overcome difficulties of size 
4. To understand the inaccessible
5. Help the learners understand abstraction

Ten general purposes of simulations and games

1. To develop changes in attitudes
2. To change specific behaviors
3. To prepare participants for assuming new roles in the future
4. To help individuals understand their current roles
5. To increase the students’ ability to apply principles
6. To reduce complex problems or situations to manageable elements
7. To illustrate roles that may affect one’s life but that one may never assume
8. To motivate learners
9. To develop analytical processes
10. To sensitize individuals to another person’s life role