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This picture was made June 28,2019 by Eva szillery. She has not updated it. This agrees with my claim. She wants to provide info about showing reasons why kids should learn how to read analog clocks. This has no spelling or grammar issues. This was published to inform the reader.

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Peter and Maria 3, who don't yet understand the concept of numerals, are told that "When the big hand is on this line, it will be story time."Sam, 7-years-old, is putting a half-eaten sandwich in his lunch bag and asks, "I am done with my lunch, may I go out and play?" The school has a clock on the wall showing the start of lunchtime and beginning of playtime on its face. It would appear that the school designated 30 minutes for lunch before peers can play.
We cannot see it, get rid of it, contain it, or manipulate it. Time - present in our children's lives long before they begin reading letters or numerals, helps challenge all of us to become more organized and prioritize.

One of the questions I am often asked is, "Why do you teach children about analog clocks?" As our societies become more technologically advanced and implement digital clocks, we become conditioned towards mental linearity, which lacks scope and depth. Education Writer for the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss, addressed this topic last month in her article, British schools are replacing analog clocks with digital ones to help clueless students. So, the question remains, why should we continue teaching students to read analog clocks in a digital world? Here is a quick list in support of keeping analog clocks in schools:

Analog Clock Concepts Help Children Understand Time

Hearing the following phrases, "We are eating breakfast in the morning," "Going to bed at night," "It's time to go to softball practice," or, "There is no more time for one more game," gives early understanding of the time present in our lives. After a few months students turn into observant clock watchers.

Digital clocks do not capture this passage of time as well as analog clocks do. Watching the numbers change on the face of the digital clock does not give us the sense or passage of time, when 60 minutes turn to 1 hour. The visual experience of looking at an analog clock and processing the concept of coordinated movement of big and little hands are not shown on a digital clock.

Telling Time on an Analog Clock Develops Skills We Use Later

Specific hand positions on an analog clock equate to a particular time of day. Children learn to match numbers and hours to various times in the day, helping to identify what elapsed time is. This opens the door for several other skills as well as visualization.

The numbers on the face of analog clocks represent two different numbers simultaneously (for example, the number 12 represents itself and represents 60 minutes) - imaginative and roleplaying elements can be applied here to make learning fun: each number have a secret identify: the number 4 is 20, the number 7 is 35, and that identity is only revealed when the big hand is on the number - a game children will later remember when learning algebra. Each algebraic variable is a double agent in an "overcoat," the real identity comes out when you solve the equation. Creating a double layer paper plate clock and the two hands and plates put together with a paper fastener are creative projects we have been to show this concept.

Analog clocks also open the door to learning quarters, halves, days, weeks, etc. Converting the concept of a quarter, to a half hour, to 30 minutes is mental exercise that digital numbers may not provide to young learners.

As stated by The Guardian, "Reading an analog clock is a cognitive workout, requiring attribution of different values to the same 12 symbols, interpreted on three parallel planes - seconds, minutes, hours. Only with practice does this awesome mental feat come to feel easy."

Analog Clocks Can Help Us Think Musically

The ticking of an analog clock not only represents the passage of time, but also sets the speed for the passage of music, which is referred to as the tempo. Students who understand the tempo (or beats per minute), can then learn complex rhythm. Music combined with movement leads to dancing, encouraging the synchronization of moves with the tempos as they change from song to song.

Time is Related to Earth's Position in Space

The clockwise -counter clockwise movement brings up the question, "Why do clocks move left to right, the clockwise direction?" The explanation comes from the motion of the Earth relative to the Sun. Before mechanical clocks, it was observed that the Sun was highest in the sky at noon. Mechanical clocks used on the Northern Hemisphere were designed to follow the Sun's motion from left to right, the clockwise direction. All simple machines manuals reference this "clockwise rotation," and the motion is also used in subjects that include trigonometry and electricity.

While digital technology is practical and present, analog clocks provide us with a lot more than just what time it is. By continuing to educate children on how to read these clocks, they will develop valuable life skills as well as better understand our place in the universe.

Eva Szillery is a mathematician, received her Ph.D. in Mathematics at the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, she taught college courses in mathematics for engineering students. In 1998, Szillery began working with Professor Seymour Papert, a 40-year MIT Professor and Special Adviser for the Governor's Maine Technology Initiative. Szillery was hired to design the problem-solving component of the Maine Technology Initiative and with this "develop a generation of thinkers through problem-solving." In 2002, stemming from a suggestion made by Papert, she founded the MMSETS Program, a correspondence problem-solving program, and various outreach enrichment programs which include: modular origami, teacher in-service programs, and even programs for very young children and their parents. The program has been running successfully since 2002.

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The New "Cursive Debate," Should Children Still Learn to Read Analog Clocks?

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Peter and Maria 3, who don't yet understand the concept of numerals, are told that "When the big hand is on this line, it will be story time." Sam, 7-years-old, is putting a half-eaten sandwich in his lunch bag and asks, "I am done with my lunch, may I go out and play?"

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This picture was originated May 8 2018 by Kim Lacapria but has not been updated. This agrees and disagrees with my claim. This writer wants to show both sides if kids should or shouldn't read analog clocks. This has no spelling or grammar issues. This was published to inform the reader.

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This was published on December 3,2019 but it doesn't say a writer. This has not been updated. THis agrees with my claim. This writer is trying to show that kids should learn how to read analog clocks. This has no spelling or grammar errors.This was made to inform.

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Do you remember your early years of elementary school? You likely have fond memories of learning the alphabet, coloring page after page of superhero characters and, last but not least, learning how to use an analog clock to tell the time.

But times are definitely changing. Back then, we didn't have the internet in our pocket. You couldn't just pull out your phone to take a quick look at the time. You actually had to wear a watch, if you didn't always want to ask a classmate what time it was.

Today, kids need to learn how to navigate a smartphone and computer. It's a truly digital age. So it comes as no surprise that most kids look at a digital clock when they need to tell the time. Not only is the number going to be on their smartphones, but they can also find it on their laptops and tablets.

Should we be at all surprised to learn that kids today are having trouble reading analog clocks? Unless their parents have these types of clocks hanging on the walls of their homes, why would the children ever need to use them to tell time? So even if someone teaches them how to read an analog clock, the children might quickly forget again if they never get any real practice.

This has become so much of an issue that a lot of teachers in the UK have taken down analog clocks in classrooms and replaced them with digital clocks. They are afraid that students would otherwise waste too much time wondering what time it is and stress themselves trying to figure out how much longer they have before they need to turn in their exams.

This was confirmed by Malcolm Trobe, the deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), who told The Telegraph, "You don't want [the students] to put their hand up to ask how much time is left."

Check out the video below to see how much of a problem it has become:

Do your kids know how to read an analog clock? Leave us a comment below, and pass this along when you are done!

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Schools Are Beginning To Take Down Analogue Clocks Because Kids Can't Read Them Anymore

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Do you remember your early years of elementary school? You likely have fond memories of learning the alphabet, coloring page after page of superhero characters and, last but not least, learning how to use an analog clock to tell the time. But times are definitely changing.

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This was published March 27th, 2019 by Michelle Hambiliki and has not been updated. This is disagreeing with my claim. She wrote this because she thinks kids shouldn't learn how to read them because it makes them stressed. THis has no spelling or grammar errors and it was made to inform the reader.

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This video was posted May 5,2019 by Scott Stump but has not been updated. This agrees with my claim. He wrote this because to show that a lot of people can't read a analog clock. There is no spelling or grammar mistakes. He published this to entertain the viewer.

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For younger generations, there are two ways to tell time: the easy way, or struggling to figure out that round thing with the hands.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel put some young people who are used to glancing at the digital clocks on their phones to the test when he asked them to read an analog clock.

The outcome? Well, let's just say that if the fate of the world ever depends on a teen reading an old-timey clock, we're probably doomed.

In Tuesday night's edition of the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" segment called Can You Do It?, a group of teens and college students found themselves looking at an analog clock like it was an artifact from Mars while attempting to decipher the time.

"Oh, no,'' one girl immediately said with a look of pure fear. "No. I can't."

The results weren't pretty. One college student hoped her professors wouldn't see the video when it aired.

"They're going to be so disappointed that I have not read a clock like this since elementary school,'' she said.

For what it's worth, Kimmel asked a group of younger children to read an analog clock in a segment for his show in 2018, and they didn't fare any better.

The matter has even caused some educators to throw up their (non-clock) hands.

Some schools in Britain are ditching analog clocks from test rooms because a generation of kids raised on digital clocks can't read them and are getting stressed about time running out during tests, London's Telegraph reported last year.

Back on this side of the pond, American kids also have been bedeviled by traditional clocks.

An Arizona elementary school teacher wrote a blog post in 2014 about whether students should still be taught how to read analog clocks, arguing that they help visual learners but also noting that they are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

All signs are pointing toward time running out for analog clocks. Make some room for them in the time capsule next to the VCR and Walkman.

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Jimmy Kimmel asked young people to read an analog clock, and it didn't go so well

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For younger generations, there are two ways to tell time: the easy way, or struggling to figure out that round thing with the hands. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel put some young people who are used to glancing at the digital clocks on their phones to the test when he asked them to read an analog clock.

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This video was made May 5 2018. It was updated the same day just 10 min later. This does agree with my claim. This was published by Savannah Levins. She published this to show what people think about kids learning analog clocks again and she also showed kids reading the clock. This has no spelling or grammar errors. This was purposed to sell and inform viewers.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There is a debate about whether schools should continue to teach kids how to tell time.

In the United Kingdom, schools are now getting rid of analog clocks because kids just don't know how to read them. Some are now pushing for U.S. schools to follow suit.

RELATED: NC Lawmakers Launch Cursive Writing Investigation

"Everything is so digital today; it's not necessarily a good thing," said Bob Piotrowski, a clockmaker and horologist at Time After Time in Indian Land. "Why are we losing our contact to our past? Why should we do that when we should preserve that?"

However, some say kids just can't read good ol' clocks anymore. NBC Charlotte set out to discover if that's really true. We quizzed several kids on their analog clock skills. It wasn't a shining success.

The truth is the analog clock might be gathering dust in 2018. Yet there are still people like Bob who aren't giving up just yet.

"I don't want this to die," he said. "Time's not up. It's not over, it's not over 'til the bell strikes."
► Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WFMY News 2 App now

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Should Schools Continue To Teach Kids How To Tell Time?

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There is a debate about whether schools should continue to teach kids how to tell time. In the United Kingdom, schools are now getting rid of analog clocks because kids just don't know how to read them. Some are now pushing for U.S. schools to follow suit.

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This picture was originally created on May 4 2018 and was revised on the same day just later time. The person who wrote it was Brett Molina and it was published on a new article. There is no spelling or grammar issues. It was written to inform you about why we should learn how to read analog clocks.

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This was written May 22,2019 but has not been updated. This is written by Amanda Tarlton. It disagrees with my claim because it shows that she doesn't want teachers to teach kids how to learn how to read them. There is no spelling or grammar errors. This info is to inform the reader.

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The Internet is abuzz over an article that claims that U.K. schools are removing analog clocks from classrooms because students can't read them. But is telling time, much like writing cursive, really going extinct? Probably not.

"The current generation isn't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations," Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), told The Telegraph, explaining that kids are more used to seeing things digitally.

However, what many people miss is what Trobe said next-that the real reason schools are considering replacing analog clocks with digital ones is to make exams less stressful for students.

"Schools will inevitably be doing their best to make young children feel as relaxed as they can be," he explained to the British newspaper. "There is actually a big advantage in using digital clocks in exam rooms because it is much less easy to mistake a time on a digital clock when you are working against time."

According to Trobe, students can more quickly estimate how many minutes they have left on a test when they're looking at a digital clock.

So far, the clock-replacing initiative is only being considered in U.K. schools. In the U.S., kids who attend public schools that follow the Common Core curriculum are still taught how to tell time. The specific curriculum standard states that in first grade, students must be able to "tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks."

It's a skill that Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, doesn't think will go away anytime soon in America. "There's a lot of very complex mathematical manipulations that are involved in being able to tell time with an analog clock," Burris told CBS. "It takes some of the math skills students are learning and gives them an important real-world context."

Related Articles:

The post Don't Freak Out, Kids Can Still Read Analog Clocks appeared first on Fatherly.

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Don't Freak Out, Kids Can Still Read Analog Clocks

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The Internet is abuzz over an article that claims that U.K. schools are removing analog clocks from classrooms because students can't read them. But is telling time, much like writing cursive, really going extinct? Probably not.

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This article was made on April 27,2018 by David (there was no last name). It has not been revised. This info is agreeing and disagreeing with my claim. He wants students to learn how to tell time on an analog clock. This article was published to sell.

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Since students are struggling to tell time, rather than teaching it, schools are replacing analog clocks with digital ones.

Schools are starting to replace the good old fashioned analog clocks with regular clocks because young people can't tell time. Yes, children these days can't read a clock, so rather than teaching, we're enabling. Prepare to sit down to read this story.

This is happening in the U.K. Schools with younger students are discovering that the pupils are having a hard time reading regular clocks. You know, the big hand points to the 3, the little hand points to the 10. What time is it? We can blame a lot of things here, but truly it comes down to modern technology if you think about it. Who wears watches anymore? I mean a lot of us do, myself included, but for the most part, people look at the time on their iPhones or computer screens. You know what else? A lot of people in the world wear a watch as a fashion accessory. I can take a walk through our building here and point out at least 3 people who are wearing watches with dead batteries - they don't even function! Anyway, I digress.

So simply because of the reason of technology, rather than holding a class on how to tell time, the schools are hanging digital clocks on the wall. "Having a traditional clock in the room could be a cause of unnecessary stress," an administrator says. Opinion, but if telling time causes student anxiety, how are these kids going to function in the world? When you apply for a job, "telling time" shouldn't have to be listed in the "job requirements" section. When could you tell time? I remember, I must have been 3 or 4 when I learned and was good at it, but I remember kids in my first grade class struggling to learn from one of those brightly-colored toy clocks the teacher would use to demonstrate with. Nevermind adding roman numerals to the equation.. See the original story here. #SaveAnalogClocks

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Students Can't Tell Time, Get Digital Clocks In Class - Mix 96

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Since students are struggling to tell time, rather than teaching it, schools are replacing analog clocks with digital ones. Schools are starting to replace the good old fashioned analog clocks with regular clocks because young people can't tell time. Yes, children these days can't read a clock, so rather than teaching, we're enabling.

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This article was published August 14,2018 and was written by Vivienne Pearson. This article agrees with my claim. It showing how kids should learn how to read analog clocks because they will need it in there life time. She mad no spelling or grammar errors. This information is made to persuade.

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Can your kids read an analog clock? You know, the round ones with hands. Like the Rocket Clock in Play School (as opposed to the digital watches that were soooo cool in Back to the Future).

Learning to tell the time on an analog clock is HARD and, pardon the pun, it is a skill that takes time to master.

Some people think that kids are increasingly unable to read analog clocks. I haven't been able to find hard evidence to support this claim but, from anecdotal evidence, it is certainly true that some kids are reach their teenage years without developing this skill, despite digital and analog time telling featuring equally on our school curriculums.

It is unsurprising - digital clocks are far more common, especially for "i-Gen" kids brought up with screens. Yet there are still enough analog clocks around - in people's homes, on town halls and on people's wrists - to make it an important skill to learn.

So how does a kid learn to read a clock with hands?

Sonja Walker is a teacher with 30 years' experience. She points out that the most important thing is to have regular exposure. "I suggest having analog clocks around your house, and buying your primary schooler an analog watch," she says.

She also suggests consciously using the lingo associated with time. "Use a timer when you are encouraging your kids to take turns, or say things like: 'We need to pick up Sarah from soccer at 5pm so let's look at the clock to see what time it is now.'"

Play School has the right idea by starting with hour and half-hour times, something that is echoed in the early years of our school curriculums. "After that, you need to know patterns of five," says Walker.

This is where analog clocks get super confusing. Roger Shackleton, who realised just how confusing when he tried to teach his daughter, sums it up beautifully: "When the minute hand points to one, we need to say five; when it points to five we need to say 25; when it points to seven we also need to say 25; when it points to 10 we do actually say 10."

Shackleton realised that there must be an easier way. He hand-crafted a clock that contained more information than regular analog clocks. "It was made of cardboard and had Mickey Mouse hands," he says.

He added numbers to correspond to the minutes and lengthened the minute hand so that it pointed right to the numbers. He then added the words PAST to one half, TO to the other, and a bit of colour coding for good measure.

"Now all the information needed was on the clock," he concludes.

From there, it becomes a simple three step process to tell the time. "All a child has to do is read the number the long hand is pointing to, say whether it is on the 'past' or 'to' side of the clock, then read the number that the short hand is pointing to," Shackleton says.

The idea was so successful that, after his daughters had totally mastered telling the time, Shackleton created a commercial version of his cardboard clock. I used one with my kids so totally agree with Shackleton when he says: "Telling the time had gone from being inexplicable, to three simple steps that can be learned in just a few minutes."

Of course, there is a bit more to it than that. There is learning the concepts of quarter past, quarter to, and knowing that half past four is the same things as four 30. Then there is working out how much time is left before something happens by subtracting using 60 as the base number rather than 100. And, for extra degrees of difficulty, there are roman numerals and the 24-hour clock to master.

But, once the fundamentals are in place, these more complex elements are easier.

Like all skills, learning to read a clock will come more naturally to some kids than others. Walker, who now runs a multidisciplinary service for kids facing challenges with their learning, says: "For some kids, the whole concept of time is hard, it is abstract and some kids will likely always have gaps in their skills."

Like all skills, reading an analog clock will be developed more quickly and fully when they are learned both at school and at home.

If you need some add some humour into the equation, hit YouTube for these hilarious takes on the topic.

An analog clock-reading Vox Pop by Jimmy Kimmel:

An oldie-but-a-goodie - veteran comic Dave Allen routine on the challenges of teaching your child how to tell the time:

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Do kids really need to know how to read an analog clock?

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Can your kids read an analog clock? You know, the round ones with hands. Like the Rocket Clock in Play School (as opposed to the digital watches that were soooo cool in Back to the Future). Learning to tell the time on an analog clock is HARD and, pardon the pun, it is a skill that takes time to master.

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This info was posted May 7,2018 and has not been revised. This information is both agreeing and disagreeing with my claim. This information was shown from a school and the author is Rachelle Hampton and she made no spelling or grammar errors. This article is made to teach and inform the reader.

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It looks like the analog clock's days may be numbered. According to a recent article in the Telegraph, some U.K. schools are removing them from exam halls after discovering teenagers have a hard time reading traditional clock faces. Apparently the move is an attempt to reduce testing anxiety in a generation raised on digital devices. "The current generation aren't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations," said Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, in an interview with the newspaper. "They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they've got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere."

The news was met with as much hand wringing as I'm sure met the phasing out of such necessary skills as reading a sun dial or spooling a type writer. "I would be the teacher who would say tough - but apparently that's not how kids are raised," wrote one Twitter denizen. He went on to lament that these same kids probably couldn't read Roman numerals-where exactly those two things connect, I'm still not sure. Another American analog acolyte who didn't apparently read that the clock phase out was taking place in the U.K. asked, "Are we getting out [sic] money's worth from government education? We know students cannot write in script. Or are they just being taught anti-social behavior, multi-gender personalities and anti-American hatred for our Founding?" A significant number of commentators responded to the news with something along the lines of, "Teach them to read it then?" To which I would answer, "Why?"

The fact that analog clocks have managed to stand the test of time in an increasingly digitized world is a bit of a wonder. While there may be nothing quite as charming as the quiet tick of a watch, the fact that teachers are adapting to the fact that a fair number of teenagers can't read an analog clock isn't another sign of corruption in The Youth. It means, as Nobel Prize Winner Bob Dylan once wrote, that times are a-changing. It doesn't make sense for a teacher to waste precious class time to teach teenagers how to read an analog clock just so they can tell time during an exam. And if students can't read traditional clock faces with relative ease by the time they're sitting for exams, it means one of two things: Somewhere down the line their teacher prioritized other knowledge over doing countless worksheets on telling time, or they've just forgotten something they learned in elementary school once they tested out of that grade.

Kids in America who learn under Common Core standards are required to be taught how to read an analog clock in first or second grade; if kids in the U.K. are taught around the same time than it wouldn't be entirely surprising to learn that they forgot how to do so by the time they're teenagers. With the sheer amount of stuff kids are expected to know once state exams roll around, it's understandable that they'd get a bit rusty on something they're not using every day.

Plenty of naysayers will crow about the practical use of knowing how to read an analog clock once the electricity goes out, but since when is school about teaching practical skills? I don't remember learning how to file an insurance claim or write a check or pay taxes in school, all skills that are objectively more practical in the long run than reading an analog clock. That's not to say that the skill needs to go the way of cursive: Telling time on a traditional clock face is a real world application of complex mathematical skills and teachers seem to agree that it gives children a different relation to time than reading a digital clock does. "Analog clocks are great for teaching time management [and] concepts including the passage of time," answered one Arizonan teacher when asked why she still felt the skill was important to teach. "Even our little kids who don't yet have the concept of numerals can understand that when the big hand is on this red line it's time to line up."

By all means, I'm sure small children will continue to be taught multiples of five through the use of an analog clock. But it's entirely fair for that skill to fade by the time those kids reach puberty and for teachers to adapt to the fact that the days of analog ubiquity are slowly ticking away.

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Some U.K. Schools Are Phasing Out the Analog Clock. It's About Time.

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It looks like the analog clock's days may be numbered. According to a recent article in the Telegraph, some U.K. schools are removing them from exam halls after discovering teenagers have a hard time reading traditional clock faces. Apparently the move is an attempt to reduce testing anxiety in a generation raised on digital devices.

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This info was posted December 15 2014 and has not been updated. The article "should we still teach analog clocks," is written by Sandy Merz. There is no spelling and/or grammar errors. This info is persuading and Informing the reader.

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On Friday, my colleague Steve Andre wrote in a staff wide email that he was considering teaching how to tell time on an analog clock to his seventh grade computer students because they can't read the one on his wall when they sign out with a pass. On one hand, Steve was for it because analog clocks are still prevalent so it's still a relevant life skill. But he adds that people don't wear analog watches so much, and analog clocks' days are numbered. He wanted our opinions on the matter.

Our opinions, and those of outside friends who have joined the discussion, crossed emotional, pedagogic, and philosophical lines. Emotionally, many were dismayed at the loss of this skill, one was even "appalled." Many teachers were frustrated because the clocks on our classroom walls are analog, so kids need to know analog time. (I wonder why they're not frustrated that our facilities are stuck in the 20th Century or that half of the clocks don't work anyway.) One bridged the emotional - pedagogic divide by expressing the frustration of teaching a skill that first or second graders are not developmentally ready for.

Other pedagogic arguments included the value of using an analog clock as a concrete example of math skills. Miriam added that learning analog clocks helps visual learners:

...I believe that the analog clock can provide a vivid representation of time that digital clocks cannot. Analog clocks are great for teaching time management, concepts including the passage of time, how much time we have left to complete something, etc. Even our little kids who don't yet have the concept of numerals can understand that "when the big hand is on this red line it's time to line up.

Philosophically, several people compared learning analog time to learning cursive writing, another skill that's about as common these days as an 8-track stereo. They pointed out that all anybody seems to write in cursive anymore is their signature. But isn't that a reason to stop teaching it, rather than continue?

Barb, my favorite non-conformist, wrote a response that combines emotion, pedagogy, and philosophy:

I don't know if it's necessary to learn to read an analog clock; but I definitely think it is good for the brain and even better for the mind. Even though the analog clock "moves time" through a single plane or two dimensions, at least time is moving through space at some level. And time needs space although not as much as space needs time. Digital clocks offer only a linear time, and even the linearity is broken up-a kind of dotted line of time. I think our conditioned and cultural tendencies in the west-forever- and increasingly all over the planet, are already towards a mental and psychic linearity( and very much broken up at that ) which lacks depth and scope and a connection to the non-physical world. So, I love the analog clock and the sense of something moving through time and time moving through something....The only thing is that analog watches ALL lose time on my wrist pretty dramatically. But I have a great analog art clock made out of those little firecracker things that you stomp on- hanging in my kitchen. It ticks and tocks, too. I still love sensations and the tactile, visual world-so yes, analog clocks.

That makes me want to teach analog time just so I can then teach them how to find south with an analog watch.

Her comments also led to a mental digression. Our English unit of length began as the average size of sixteen residents' feet in a given village. Daylight was divided into six equal parts so how long an hour lasted depended on the season and your latitude. So, time and distance were proportional the cycles of nature and her human inhabitants. A meter, by the way, is 1/299,792,458 of the distance light travels in a vacuum in one second. (Why not 1/300,000,000?) A second is equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation in an energy level change of the Cesium atom. (Why not 10,000,000,000?)

My own response to Steve's original question was that I think reading analog time is about as virtuous as using a rotary phone or zip-a-grade. (I was going to use put in a picture of a zip-a-grade for younger readers, but couldn't find a single one. There are, though, lots of zip-a-grade apps.)

Instead of comparing analog time to cursive, I compared it to reading dice, which a lot of kids can't do anymore, either. But the digital games they play instead:

...are more cognitively demanding and require more planning, collaboration, and communications skills than board games. Plus, like any good teacher - the games they play don't let them move on until they've mastered their current level while providing the motivation to continue. I'd love to be able to teach grit the way World of Warcraft does. My kids never asked me a geography or history question after playing Yahtzee or Monopoly, but they do after playing Assassin's Creed.

To that, my colleague Cheryl fairly pointed out the advantages of dice games in developing number sense.

And to Steve's earlier point about the prevalence of analog clocks in public places, I'd add that yesterday I visited the supermarket, the mall, two libraries, and a party. In those peregrinations, I saw exactly four analog clocks hanging on walls. The last was at my friend's party in her home. Her clock was quite lovely and made me think that in terms of decorative value, analog clocks win hands down.

At the end of the day, Steve wrote to us all that he had decided to teach analog time-telling.

I'm going to pass some time watching Cesium atoms radiate.

I grew up in Silver City, New Mexico and went the University of New Mexico, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. After working for the U.S. Geological Survey in remote regions of western New Mexico, I moved to Tucson to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona, earning a Master of Science degree in Hydrogeology. While working as an intern hydrologist for a local county agency, I started doing volunteer work that involved making presentations in schools. At that moment I knew teaching was the path to follow. It must have been a good decision because I'm still on the path after thirty-two years. My teaching certificates are in math and science and I am a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technical Education. After teaching engineering and math and elective classes at the same school in downtown Tucson my whole career, I've moved to a different middle school and district on the edge of town to teach math. In addition to full time teaching, I am actively involved in the teacher leadership movement by facilitating National Board candidates, blogging for Stories from School Arizona, and serving on the Arizona K12 Center's TeacherSolutions team. In January 2017, Raytheon Missile System named me a Leader in Education and I'm a former Arizona Hope Street Fellow.

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Should We Still Teach Analog Clocks? - STORIES FROM SCHOOL AZ

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SHARE THIS STORY: On Friday, my colleague Steve Andre wrote in a staff wide email that he was considering teaching how to tell time on an analog clock to his seventh grade computer students because they can't read the one