THE TIME TEACHING CONCEPT
What makes the TIME-TEACHING-CONCEPT unique, are the two steps of interrelated learning: Step 1: Learn 8 different time elements through demonstration with the Educational Learn- and Play clock TIME TEACHER. Step 2: Use the TIME TEACHER as an actively used classroom clock. Each week a different child is the ‘Master of Time’. At the start of each day of the week the ‘Master of Time’ changes the wooden cubs to a new time element. There are a number of educational aids and teaching clocks available on the market – but there is only one TIME-TEACHING-CONCEPT.
Discovery of time
Associating events of the day with specific times (e.g. 7 o’clock dad comes home from work, etc) is the way a child begins to understand the concept of time. Time Teacher contains self-adhesive pictures showing typical activities throughout the day that allows children to create their own personal clock.
The conventional clock has 12 hours…
Because children can remove the cubes from 1 o’clock to 12 o’clock in order, they gain an understanding of our time system and the logical sequence of numbers from 1 to 12. It’s also fun and there is a great sense of achievement once the correct sequence has been learnt.
…but the day consists of 24.
Children quickly grasp the clock’s best secret; the day consists of 2 x 12 hours. So when the hour hand points to 9 o’clock it can also be the 20th hour of the day. That’s why Time Teacher has two different coloured backgrounds to relate to the time of day.
The hour is divided into 4 fractions
Adults use simple fractions to describe the 4 equal time periods in the hour. The children can discover that 4 quarter segments make up 1 hour (e.g. quarter past one, half past one, quarter to two, two o’clock).
One hour consists of 60 minutes.
The 12 cubes of the clock divide the hour into 5 minute segments. This builds up children’s understanding of there being 60 minutes in any hour and eventually seconds into minutes. Therefore: 12 cubes = 12 x 5 minutes = 60 minutes = 1 hour.
The sequence of time through a 12 hour cycle.
To help children understand the passing of time, a game of dots and circles has been devised. As they go round the clock from 1 to 12 they can detect an increase in the dots and a decrease in the circles.
Roman Numerals – still a popular way of displaying time.
Many clocks still use Roman Numerals as a characteristic design feature.
Digital time.
Digital time can be simulated by using 2 cubes, e.g. numbers 2 and 10. Placed next to each other as shown, they represent the digital readout in relation to the position of the analogue hands.