Two aspects of time measurement to be taught are telling time and noting time duration.  Children begin to catch on to the idea of telling time using a moving-hands clock in kindergarten and first and second grades.  This gradually forming understanding is built on repeated reference to the clock, using the position of the hands for hours and minutes.  Although children may be able to say the numbers they see on a digital clock before this time, they are usually not telling time.  There is a general agreement that moving-hands clocks should be used to teach telling time and that when it has been learned, digital clocks and watches can be used.  Having learned to tell time on moving-hands clocks, children will have no difficulty using digital clocks.

    Among the reasons for using the circular clock to help in teaching time measurement are:

• Children can see movement of the hands and connect that with elapsed time.
• The hour values are indicated and can be seen in relation to each other.
• The 5-minute divisions can be seen and time accurate to 5 minutes can be measured.
• Counting by 5s can be used.
• The base 12 or mod-12 nature of telling time can be seen on the clock face as the hands move past 12 to 1.

The preceding list suggests some aspects of time measurement which make it difficult to learn.  Among them are:

• Time is measured using a mixture of base 12 and base 60 systems (and when extended to days, months and years, it uses base 4, 7, 365 and 28, 29, 30 and 31 systems).
• Time is measured indirectly - the movement of the sun, hands on a clock face, digits changing in a display, changing seasons, etc...
• Time is an abstract concept.
• A person's understanding of elapsed time is greatly influenced by concurrent events and changes in situations.
• Clocks come in all sorts of styles and designs - some with all 12 numerals (some Roman numerals), others with only 12, 3, 6 and 9 numerals, and still others with no numerals at all.
• Different phases can be used for the same time. (6:45, a quarter to 7).
• Fraction terminology is used early (quarter after).

As with teaching, other measurement, teaching time measurement requires hands-on repetitive experimentation.  Catalogs offer multiple clock face manipulatives to use in the classroom.  The better ones (and more expensive models) have the hands geared together so that rotating the minute hand one full revolution causes the hour hand to move from one hour to the next.  This is more realistic than a model with independent hands, but for kindergarten, first, and second grade children, not necessary.  Children should answer questions about the time indicated on the clock, record their responses, and starting with hour values, move to the identification of quarter to, quarter after, half past, etc...
and use these common phrases.  They should also be taught to set the clocks according to given instruction.
 
 

Students will learn to set the time on a VCR or other digital clock devise.

    Opportunities during the school day to tell time and to measure length of time should be used to help in learning time measure.  The teacher should often as questions such as, "It's now 10:30; we go to recess at 10:45; where will the clock hands be then?"  "How many minutes is it until then?  How would you describe how long that is?"  "If you ride in a car in town how far could you get in 15 minutes?"  The questions need to be correlated to the grade level and knowledge of the children.

TIME DURATION

Time duration is difficult to teach because circumstances vary so much from situation to situation.  There are, however, several aspects of children's lives at school and at home in which elapsed time is important.  Among events that will help children begin to understand time duration are:

Elapsed time for:

• eating (a hamburger, pizza, full meal)
• the school bus ride
• a movie/video/tv show
• a ball game (including quarters in a basketball game)
• walking a mile, running a mile (and other distances)
• sleep
• various classes at school
• recess

• a baby to be born
• a chicken to hatch
• bean plants to grow 6" high
• winter
• growing an inch

Students will make charts or graphs showing events requiring various lengths of elapsed time.

Again, the teacher must incorporate practice in using these concepts until the students know how to measure elapsed time in a variety of practical settings.

Students will sit quietly with their eyes closed and hold up their hands when a second (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and a minute) has passed.

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