Time

Subject: Numbers and Operations

Grade(s): 6-8
Duration: One class period

Students will understand the following:

1. A sundial is a tool for estimating time of day during sunlit hours.

Materials
For this lesson, you will need:
Two-to-three-foot stick
Ten flat rocks approximately 3 to 5 inches in diameter

Procedures
1. Ask students if they know what a sundial is. Check students' definitions or explanations
against the following sentence, which is the most basic statement of why we build
sundials: During the period of the day when the sun is above the horizon, we can use the
constant and steady motion of the sun, and the shadows it casts, to measure the hours of
the day by constructing a sundial.
2. On a sunny day, set students the task of making a sundial. They should begin by
placing vertically a 2-to-3-foot stick in a protected area of the school yardan area that
receives sunlight all day long.
3. Have your students locate 10 flat rocks, all approximately 3 to 5 inches in diameter.
4. They should paint one of the following times on each rock: 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11
a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., and 5 p.m.
5. Assign 10 of your students the job of placing a rock at the end of the stick's shadow for

each hour of the school day.

6. Each day for the rest of a week, the students should check whether the rock for each
hour is still positioned correctly or whether the rock must be moved somewhat.
7. After the week has elapsed, ask students to explain what transpired regarding the stick,
the shadows, and the rocks. Which way did the rocks have to be shifted and why?
Adaptations
Have students explain and demonstrate how to use a device known as a planisphere. We
can use a planisphere as a clock once the sky is dark, on any known date, by observing the
positions of the constellations directly overhead. Students can download the parts of a
planisphere atotterbeinand follow directions there for putting the pieces together.
Discussion Questions
1. Does time exist in the natural world or is time the invention of human beings? In a
circular statement, physicists address this question by saying that "we use time to measure
motion and we use motion to measure time." Use this quote as a basis for explaining your
understanding of the nature of time.
2. Debate the appropriateness, and the pros and cons, of altering the biological clock of
one species with clock DNA from another species. Give examples of what a single
organism or an entire species has to gain or lose through such genetic engineering.
3. Many students of the history of the Industrial Revolution suggest that the invention of
the steam engine as a portable power resource marked the beginning of worldwide
industrialization. Not so, says social critic Lewis Mumford. What do you think Mumford
means when he says, "The clock, not the steam engine, is central to the Industrial
Revolution? The clock is the crowning achievement that all other machines aspire to." Is
Mumford's assertion relevant as we enter the communications age?
4. Measuring time is essential for a diversity of human endeavors such as creating music
and navigating the surface of the earth. Why isn't the precision of time measurement as
important to the musician as it is to the navigator? What other human endeavors require
precision in time measurement and what endeavors require mere approximations in order
to be successful?
5. Imagine that you had the ability to travel back in time and could change one event that
would significantly alter your life as you now live it. What would that event be, how
would you change it, and what would be the consequences to the rest of the world if you
were successful? Now imagine the future that you want to live. What events can you

control now that will assure you of the future that you want?
6. You now have the ability to precisely locate position anywhere on Earth with the global
positioning system (GPS). Suggest five future technologies that will take advantage of this
system.