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LOGOThe Learning Journey

Of Time

Misconception

• Addressed from the start

• Acquired by many students

• Get students to explain how they came to their answers

• If their answer is wrong, correct it explicitly.

• Avoiding future misconceptions

• teach the exact meaning of mathematical terms from the start.

Foundation Stage

• Understand and use in practical contexts, vocabulary:

the days of the week, morning, evening, bedtime, tomorrow, and next.• This vocabulary is used in everyday life - important to use it

appropriately.• Misconceptions - ‘just a minute’, but is technically longer than 1

minute or, ‘be there in a second’. • Early stages of foundation, begin to learn to read the clock face on an

analogue clock, to 30 minutes and 60 minutes.

2 Aspects of Time:• Time Interval – length of time between the start and end of an activity.• Recorded Time – the specific time at which an event happened.

The clock

Misconceptions:• Most clocks have 2 hands - 2 different scales around the clock.• Help to have clock face with both numbers for hours (in one colour) and minutes (in

another colour)• Misinterpret the hour hand as the minute hand• Children not being able to see the hour hand move might confuse them• DIALY ROUTINE

One of the first measures of time children use is the daily routine. Children should understand that one thing follows after another throughout the day.

Starts in the morning: - getting up

- having breakfast

- going to school

Finishes at night: - supper

-going to bed

• Children in Year R, should be familiar with some key times in the day. For example, “We go to assembly at 9 o’clock”, or “We go home at 3 o’clock”.

• Aware of the recent past near and future

• Because children not able to read clocks at this age, arbitrary measures are used. E.g. how many turns of the sand timer does it take for your friend to walk around the playground?

Why these misconceptions happen

• To children, time wont always feel the same. For example, time at the dentist will feel a lot longer than that at a party. If children have a misconception from a young age then it is likely, that misconception will be difficult to correct as they get older.

• These misconceptions might occur because the children do not have the appropriate knowledge related to the concept of time

• Spooner (Drews, 2005, P16) suggests that:

‘placing children in situations where they feel in control of identifying mathematical errors/misconceptions leads to greater openness on the part of the children to explore and discuss their own misconceptions’

Year 2 and Year 3

•To be able to use units of time…..seconds, minutes, hours, days….and know the relationships between them.By understanding that for example 1 hour is 60 minutes

1 day is 24 hours 7 days are in one week

•Extend their previous knowledge and become confident with months of the year.

• Adding from previous knowledge the concept of century. Be able to write the date in the appropriate order; Day/ Month/ Year.

• Adding from previous knowledge that 1 year is 365 days.

Year 4 and Year 5– They need to learn to solve problems involving time.

– For example : If Eastenders starts at 7:30pm and finishes at 8:00 pm how long is the programme ?

– They can use number lines– Use all four operations to solve simple word problems involving

numbers and quantities based on real life money and meansures including time.

– Choose and use number operations to solve problems– They can use steps (Bridging) to help them solve the problems

• Misconceptions– Many misconceptions involving telling the time and reading the clock should already be

corrected, however if they have not been corrected when children come to do the problem solving questions they might find it hard or get the wrong answers as they are not doing the question correctly.

– Teachers have to find out what part the child is confused about and then re-teach that area, hopefully correcting the misconception

– In year 5, the work involving time is progression from year four. With harder problem based questions and estimating.

– “ Teachers should reinforce children’s understanding of units of time and the relationship between them by providing opportunities to use this knowledge when solving problems involving time intervals”

» QCA, 2003, p63

Year 6 learning

Typically towards the end of KS2 children will most likely be learning about time in the following ways:

• Using timetables to work out answers.• Train times : use train timetables to work out travel

times, faster/ slower journeys.• Bus times : how long is the journey from the town to your

house? What is the longest/shortest time it takes?• Cinema : find out when your favourite film

begins/ends/how long it lasts.• TV : when does your favourite programme

begin/end/how long does it last?• Use 24 hour clock for times, digital and analogue

Misconception

• Many children find calculating with time difficult. A common error is for them to assume that a vertical algorithm can be used.

• A television programme begins at 18:45 and ends at 20:20. How long does it last?

When tackling this problem, children may attempt to use an inappropriate method such as this: 20:20

- 18:45 • Children therefore need an effective strategy for solving problems

involving time.

• The use of a timeline can be very powerful for thinking through time calculations. This is an extension of work on number lines, therefore providing a familiar model for the child. It involves finding the difference by counting on from the earlier to the later time.

How important is time?

“many of us seem to be obsessed with it, particularly when we are under pressure, and yet the Nuer people in Sudan and the Hopi of Arizona apparantly pay little heed to the notion of time passing.” (p.72, Cockburn. A,D)

Vocabulary involving time• Time

Monday, Tuesday...January, February...Spring, Summer....day, week, fortnight, month, year, leap year, century, millenniumweekend, birthday, holidaycalendar, date, date of birthmorning, afternoon, evening, night, am, pm, noon, midnighttoday, yesterday, tomorrowbefore, after, next, lastnow, soon, early, late, earliest, latestquick, quicker quickest, quicklyfast, faster, fastestslow, slower, slowest, slowly, slowest

old, older, oldestnew, newer, newesttakes longer, takes less timehow long ago?, how long will it be to ..?how long will to take to..?timetable, arrive, departhour, minute, secondo'clock, half-past, quarter to, quarter pastclock, watch, handsdigital/analogue clock/watch, timer24-hour clock, 12-hour clockGreenwich Mean Time,British Summer Time, International Date Linehow often?always, never, often, sometimes, usually

“Learners who are insecure or uncertain do not handle inconsistencies well. Time is full of consistencies in the vocabulary and in the way numbers are used”

Chinn, S (2001)

Misconceptions within vocabulary

• There are many misconceptions within vocabulary.

“Learners who are insecure or uncertain do not handle inconsistencies well. Time is full of consistencies in the vocabulary and in the way numbers are used”

Chinn, S (2001)