Rich tasks
- These are problem solving open-ended questions that require students to investigate time. The tasks can be given at the start of a topic and done as the students gain enough knowledge to complete them, inserted into a topic at an appropriate place, or given as homework or extension.
- Sun dials
- Calendars
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1. Sun dials
- Each student in a group could research a different type of sun dial and explain how it works to the group.
- If working in a group, more than one sun dial could be made.
2. Calendars
- You could give one culture to each student or group, and ask them to present their findings to the rest.
- Part b of this task is challenging and requires a lot of thought.
Months and years
- Solve problems involving calculating how many days are between given dates.
- Know the equivalences between units of time.
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Teacher notes
- Some students have difficulty working out how many days there are between dates because they cannot add the numbers. You may need to quickly revise mental strategies for addition.
- It is important that students realise the link between how years are numbered and our number system. The year 2486 for example means that 2 millennia, 4 centuries, 8 decades and 6 years have passed.
- Students often get confused whether to include the actual dates.
- Practise with some simple ones first. For example, you want to find how many days there are between the 1st and the 8th of the month. If you just subtract 8 – 1 you get 7, but in fact there are only 6 days between the 1st and 8th. Get students to see with some of these simple examples that if they subtract the dates, they need to subtract 1 from the answer they get. If the dates are included then this means they must add those dates on.
Changing between analogue and digital time
- Write analogue time and time given by a clock face as digital time.
- Write digital times as analogue times.
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Teacher notes
- It is important that students make the link between the numbers on the clock and the five times table to help them convert to
digital time. - It may help to revise the five times table first before starting this section.
- It is important that students can read any sort of clock, even those with Roman numerals. You may need to teach how Roman numerals are made or use the teaching idea above.
- Students need to be aware that the hour hand moves very slowly between one hour and the next. It would be helpful to see it happening using a real clock. The hour hand location can be indicative of the minute hand’s approximate location.
- Some clocks use iiii instead of iv to show 4. The correct Roman numeral for 4 is iv.
am and pm time
- Write analogue and digital time as am and pm time.
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Teacher notes
- Encourage students to find their own way of remembering which is am and which is pm time. It might be something like “a comes before p in the alphabet and morning comes before night.”
- Students should be encouraged to understand that the passing of time is measured, but time cannot be touched or seen as a length or weight can be. However, a clock measures the passing of time in the same way as a ruler measures length, using standard units.
- There is usually a wide variation in students’ exposure to reading time so it is important to give activities that are appropriate. For students who have not had a lot of exposure, having a clock in the classroom and asking them to read the time on a frequent basis will help.
Estimating and working with time
- Estimate and measure time.
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Teacher notes
- Students need practice at measuring time using a stopwatch and a clock.
- Being able to estimate time is an important skill for life. You could extend question 1 in the practical on page 208 to get students to estimate other periods of time.
- Make sure that students can take a pulse before they run. It is a good idea to mark the pulse point with a pen if taking it on the wrist or use the pulse in the neck, which is stronger and therefore easier to find more quickly. It is also much more accurate to take someone else’s pulse, so you could organise for a partner to take the pulse.
