TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPICS: DALE'S CONE / DRUM CORPS / CORRECTION

Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from deep behind the orange curtain in beautiful Irvine, California, celebrating its third consecutive month without any sea lions attacking city hall. See http://tinyurl.com/gxq5m for the [I swear I am not making this up] true story.

On with the show...

Dale's Cone of Nonesense
Audience: Educators, Librarians, and Trainers

Since many Tourbus riders are also educators or librarians, I thought I'd don my powder blue academic hood [see http://tinyurl.com/qjubv ] and share with you some interesting academic research. There is a concept in education called "Dale's Cone of Experience" that states that people generally remember:

     10% of what they read
     20% of what they hear
     30% of what they see
     50% of what they hear and see
     70% of what they say or write
     90% of what they as they do a thing

Often displayed graphically as a cone -- see http://teacherworld.com/dalescone.gif -- Dale's Cone has had a profound impact on the way we teach both children and adults.

And it is a complete and total fraud.

No, really. Will Thalheimer at Work-Learning Research delved into Dale's Cone and discovered that:

1. While Edgar Dale indeed did indeed create a model of the
concreteness of various audio-visual material back in 1946, the model contained no numbers and no research was conducted to create the model. Dale's Cone was just a hunch, albeit an educated hunch, one that Dale warned shouldn't be taken too literally.

2. The percentages -- 'people generally remember 10% of what they
read' and so on -- were most likely added to Dale's Cone by an employee of the Mobil Oil company in the late 1960s. These percentages have since been discredited.

You can see Thalheimer's complete report online at

http://www.work-learning.com/chigraph.htm

It's an eye-opening read, especially if you're an educator, librarian or trainer. Let me also put in a plug for Thalheimer's blog at

http://www.willatworklearning.com/

While I've known about Thalheimer's investigation into Dale's Cone for a couple of years now, I've only recently discovered his blog. It contains a collection of "research-based commentary on learning, performance, and the industry thereof."

DCI Summer Music Games
Audience: Marching Music Fans in the US

Talking about sea lions and cones [I *REALLY* need to work on my segues], long time riders of our little bus of internet happiness will remember that I am a huge drum corps fan. And, no, I didn't march in any band or corps. I'm just a fan. A drum corps [pronounced "core"], also known as a drum and bugle corps, is a

musical marching unit, similar to a marching band, consisting of brass instruments, percussion instruments, and a color guard. ... Competitions occur on football fields and are judged based upon general effect, visual performance, and musical performance. ...Musical repertoires can vary widely between shows, including symphonic, jazz, big band, contemporary, rock, wind band, vocal, Broadway, and Latin music. ... Each drum corps prepares a single show, approximately 10-12 minutes in length, and refines it throughout the entire summer tour. Highly competitive corps spend 8 to 10 weeks on tour full-time, practicing and performing their program until reaching the circuit Championships at the end of the summer, where all corps come together to compete for a title. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/hlwxf ]

In other words, it is kind of like "Marching Music's Major League." To see what I'm talking about, check out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5VImRI5Ag

This is a YouTube video of [most of] the Cavalier's 2002 record- setting, world championship performance. While you may have seen marching bands before, you have NEVER seen [or heard] anything like this.

Anyway, if you are as big a drum corps fan as I am, or if you just want to see what all the fuss is about, you'll be happy to know that on Thursday, August 10, select Regal, United Artists, and Edwards Theatres around the United States will simulcast the quarterfinals of the 2006 Drum Corps International World Championships. For US$18 [or at least that is what Fandango is charging] you'll get to watch and hear the top seventeen drum corps in high definition and digital surround sound. Big. Loud. Live. With lots and lots of popcorn and bathroom breaks.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit

http://www.bigscreenconcerts.com/subpage/index.asp?EventID=596

For a list of theaters offering the simulcast, please visit

http://www.dci.org/cinema/theaters.cfm

This will be third year this simulcast is being offered -- or at least the third year I've attended -- and if the past is any indicator of the future you should buy your tickets today and plan on showing up to the theater EARLY! Last year, the lines at the Irvine Spectrum stretched around the building and the audience filled two or three of the Spectrum's largest theaters. This scene was repeated at theaters around the country.

Rumor has it that on September 6 ESPN2 will also broadcast highlights of the 2006 Drum Corps International World Championships. The keyword here is "highlights." For some reason or other, the producers of the ESPN2 show seem to think that special interest stories are infinitely more interesting than the actual competition, so you won't see or hear much music during this broadcast. ["The World Cup is tied after two overtimes. Italy is lining up to shoot their first penalty kick. This wouldn't be possible without the support of the player's mother ... [cue five minute video with the player's mother explaining that football is a legitimate sport that is every bit as demanding as baseball or curling] ... And we're back. While you were away, Italy won on penalty kicks. Isn't this EXCITING!?"]

If you are really into drum corps, skip ESPN2's backstory-a-palooza and head to the theater instead. [Oh, and to the Cavies fans out there, "SPLOOIE!"]

CORRECTION
Audience: Everyone

Finally, you may have noticed that I begin each of my Tourbus posts with a few words about my beloved hometown of Irvine, California. Upon closer inspection of the Tourbus archives, I have discovered that some of what I have written about Irvine may not have been completely accurate. In particular, Irvine is not:

     * Located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela
       rivers (10/25/01)
     * The wombat capital of west central Belgium (11/04/01)
     * The barbeque okra capital of Madagascar (04/02/02)
     * The possible childhood home of Werner Heisenberg (although we
       aren't quite certain) (05/09/02)
     * Quietly nestled between the Shire and the Cracks of DOOM!
       (08/02/02)
     * The inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded
       (10/24/02)
     * The town immortalized in the hit musical "Don't Cry for Me
       Orangantina" (11/21/02)
     * A town made entirely out of cheese and Legos (02/05/03)
     * Hog butcher to the world (03/28/03)
     * Filmed in front of a live studio audience (04/02/03)
     * An animal that, when fully grown, can weigh over 3,000 pounds
       and jump over 25 feet (07/16/03)
     * Available in both original recipe and extra crispy (09/10/03)
     * The 14th century home of the papacy (07/24/04)
     * The gateway to scenic central Botswana (09/30/04)
     * The fourth most serious of the seven deadly sins (10/24/04)
     * America's number one selling pretzel (08/16/05)
     * The former capital of the short-lived "Rhythm Nation"
      (10/11/05)
     * The site of the 2007 winter Olympics' cross country luge event
      (07/20/06)

I regret the error. For more information, please visit

http://netsquirrel.com/tourbus/irvine.html

Have a safe and happy week, and we'll talk again soon.

           .~~~.  ))
(\__/)  .'     )  ))       Patrick Douglas Crispen
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