Making Time Real for Students
By using some real life examples students can better understand the concept of time.
By Cathy Neushul
Every year teachers take out plastic clocks or other manipulatives to introduce students to the concept of time. While students may enjoy turning the plastic hands and quizzing each other to identify the correct time, this may not help them understand the reason for learning this concept. In order to truly cement this information in students’ minds you can discuss time in ways that can make it real and interesting for students.
Make Telling Time Fun
When teaching students about time, teach the basic concepts and then use games and other activities to get the main ideas across. For example, have students tell stories using clocks. They can tell a story about a made up character and their adventures, while identifying the time that each event occurs. Then students can create a book in which they write down their story and make illustrations to go with it. This is a fun activity that can help students learn how to tell time, and ensure that the skill is remembered.
Another way to get students to understand the importance of time is to have them talk about their daily routines and how long each activity takes. They can pick a few activities they do each day and write down how long it takes. For example, students could time how long it takes to brush their teeth, eat breakfast, or take a shower. This is a good way to help students understand time management as well. For many young children, an hour, a minute, or a second may not have real meaning.
Time Around the World
A way to combine math and social studies is to have students identify the time zones in different states and countries and calculate time differences. For example, students can figure out what time it is in England, and determine what time would be the best time to call a friend. They can also figure out what time it would be when they reached their destination if they were traveling through different time zones. This is also a great way for students to learn about cities, states and countries. As a culminating activity, students can write a short description of a trip they took, describing where they went, and identifying the time along the way.
Telling Time Doesn’t Have to be a Problem
Finally, you can get students thinking about time by giving them word problems they have to solve. But instead of making them up yourself, you can have students do it. Ask students to make up one problem each (with the solution), and check over each problem to make sure it can be solved. Then make a worksheet with all the problems. Students are bound to come up with some creative and interesting stories. It should make for an interesting lesson on time.
For students to understand time, they need to be exposed to real life examples. By making the concept interesting, students will get the most from time lessons. What follows are more time lessons.
Time Lesson Plans and Activities:
In this lesson students learn about how people have told time throughout history. This is a great way to have students learn about time while also discussing history. It can lead to activities in which students can design sundials or other ways for telling time.
Students learn about the nature of time. They discuss how long they have lived and compare this to the age of the earth. They also talk about how long a minute is. It is a great way to explore the philosophical aspects of time.
Solving Word Problems Using Time
This lesson has a series of activities in which students identify elapsed time. After students have completed the activities, you could have students come up with their own examples and share them with others.
In this lesson students make a worksheet showing a list of their daily activities and the amount of time each activity takes. This provides a way for teachers to combine math and technology.