Time

Measurement

Definition

Understanding the effects of the passage of time can only be perceived through changes in natural occurrences, such as day and night and the passing of the seasons, or the visible movement of clock hands or changing numerals on a digital clock. (Siemon, et al., 2015)

Students appreciate that units of time are associated with regularly occurring events. They learn to apply units and conventions associated with measuring and recording the succession and duration of time. Analogue clocks are used in telling the time as they better reflect the non-decimal units of hours, minutes and seconds. (National Numeracy Learning Progression)

Teaching and learning activities

The resources below provide targeted teaching strategies to support student improvement in this skill.

Each downloadable lesson activity includes:

learning intentions
a list of required resources
a step-by-step lesson sequence
printable classroom materials

Select the download all icon to download all available activities or select each activity separately.

Interpreting datesStudents learn to read and interpret dates in various forms and in particular best before dates on various packaging items.

Reading a calendarStudents read the days and dates in a particular month of the calendar. They use the calendar to determine when particular events fall in and around that month.

Reading and converting timeStudents tell the time, read and convert between 12 and 24 hour times. They learn to use measuring devices to record time in a particular context.

Telling the time – matching activityStudents tell the time on the clock and match it to their corresponding times in words

Estimating timeA practical activity on estimating time taken to carry out everyday tasks and compare that to the actual time taken.

Converting 12 & 24 hour timeAn activity that involves finding the equivalent 12 or 24 hour time for each question to complete the scavenger hunt.

Recording time in a spreadsheetStudents learn to use a spreadsheet to record times worked using 24 hour time and calculate normal and overtime hours.

Calculate elapsed time Students learn to use specific strategies such as the jump strategy and benchmark times to calculate elapsed time in familiar and routine situations.

When will dinner be ready?Students have to read and re-arrange a recipe and determine the total time taken to prepare a meal for dinner.

Reading a bus timetable Students read and interpret a bus timetable and answer various questions involving elapsed time.

Download all (ZIP)Download the resource pack containing all activities.

PLAN2 Areas of focus

An Areas of focus template has been created in PLAN2 to support targeted teaching of Text structure in your learning area.

Search for the DoE template titled ‘DoE HSCMinStd Writing: Text structure’ in the Areas of focus template library tab within the Plan menu, and customise it for your students’ needs.

For more information about using PLAN2 Areas of focus templates with this resource, visit the Using this resource with PLAN2 page.

Relevance to the numeracy test marking

According to the ACSF, the feedback for a Level 3 performance in the HSC minimum standard online numeracy test for working with time states that:

Individuals performing at this level are able to “select appropriate strategies from a variety of everyday mathematical processes in familiar and some less familiar contexts. They are also able to interpret and comprehend dates and times, including 24 hour time.

Connections with ACSF Level 3 descriptors

The relevant Level 3 ACSF descriptors for numeracy are shown here to demonstrate how estimating, measuring and calculating with time is assessed in the HSC minimum standard online test. The performance features identified show what a student is able to do in order to achieve at this level and are provided to support teachers to understand what is required to achieve a Level 3 in this skill.

Numeracy Indicator 3.09: Selects and interprets mathematical information that may be partly embedded in a range of familiar, and some less familiar, tasks and texts

Focus area: Explicitness and Complexity of mathematical information

Level 3 performance features:

interprets and comprehends dates and times, including 24 hour times

Numeracy Indicator 3.10: Selects from and uses a variety of developing mathematical and problem solving strategies in a range of familiar and some less familiar contexts.

Focus area: Mathematical knowledge and skills: measurement and geometry

Level 3 performance features:

measures, estimates and calculates time

Connections with Numeracy Learning Progression

The progressions describe a typical developmental sequence of literacy and numeracy learning. The numeracy progression sub-elements, levels and indicators relevant to measuring time are provided here to assist teachers to identify students’ capabilities and needs to support targeted teaching.

Element: Measurement and Geometry

Sub-element: Measuring Time (MeT)

MeT2 — Units of Time

identifies the clockface is a circle subdivided into 12 parts and uses these to allocate hour markers
identifies that hour markers on a clock can also represent quarter-hour and half-hour marks and shows that there is a minute hand and an hour hand on a clock
identifies the direction of clockwise and anticlockwise relating it to the hands of the clock
reads time on analogue clocks to the hour, half-hour and quarter-hour
uses a calendar to identify the date and determine the number of days in each month

MeT3 — Measuring time

uses standard instruments and units to describe and measure time to hours, minutes and seconds (e.g. measures time using a stopwatch; sets a timer on an appliance; estimates the time it would take to walk to the other side of the school oval and uses minutes as the unit of measurement)
reads and interprets different representations of time (e.g. on an analogue clock, watch or digital clock)
identifies the minute hand movement on an analogue clock and the 60- minute markings, interpreting the numbers as representing lots of five (e.g. interprets the time on an analogue clock to read seven forty, by reading the hour hand and the minute hand and explaining how they are related)
uses smaller units of time such as seconds to record duration of events
uses a calendar to calculate time intervals in days and weeks, bridging months

MeT4 — Relating units of time

identifies the relationship between units of time (e.g. months and years; seconds, minutes and hours)
uses am and pm notation to distinguish between morning and afternoon using 12-hour time
determines elapsed time using different units (e.g. hours and minutes, days and weeks)
interprets and uses a timetable

MeT5 — Converting between units of time

interprets and converts between 12-hour and 24-hour digital time, and analogue and digital representations of time to solve duration problems