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C- May 4, 2018
R- yes, agrees
A- news station
A- no
P- to persuade

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Should schools still teach kids how to tell time?

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Should schools still teach kids how to tell time?

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C- September 19, 2016
R-yes, agrees
A- Rick Wagner
A- no
P- To persuade

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I immediately thought of four folks: my younger son, junior son, senior daughter and grown step-daughter. The youngest is in third grade in Hawkins County, the middle two in Kingsport City Schools and the oldest graduated from Hawkins. That's four folks, and the result of surveying them, actually just interaction over time, has shown 75 percent more or less can't tell analog time, on a round-face clock, which was the point of the email. I remember once time telling my older son in late elementary school it was a quarter till or quarter after a certain hour. He asked if that was 3:25 or 25 minutes till 3.

These digital natives read time as 3:15 p.m. or 3:45 p.m., not a quarter till or quarter after anything. But analog clocks and before that sundials have been around almost as long as civilization. The youngest is learning and nearly complete in understanding analog time; the other three, not so much at all. They use their cell phones for time except for the youngest. He borrows his mom's phone or asks somebody. I asked him recently, and he said he prefers digital clocks because they are easier for him to understand.

Before I go any further, I need to point out that a watch retailer put out the release to promote its program with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America "to educate children across the U.S. on how to tell time" and creation of "a self-learning watch." So the watch seller has some self-interest in mind: Create life-long time tellers, and you create a market for your product. I also need to point out the survey got nowhere near Tennessee or Virginia.

"A recent survey conducted by ... online watch retailer, DiscountWatchStore.com has revealed that 75% of children across the U.S. are unable to tell time on an analog clock. In a mission to raise awareness of this issue, the watch retailer teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to put on 'Time Telling Workshops' throughout the country, and has now designed the 'Easy Time Teller' - a custom self-learning watch to better facilitate the learning process." So it's a watch to teach children how to read a watch.

In Tennessee, Robin McLellan, supervisor of elementary education for Sullivan County schools, said time is taught in grades 1, 2 and 3 and involves both analog and digital time, in contrast to a period in which standards did not specify analog. In first grade, she said students are to learn how to tell and write time in the nearest half-hour intervals, in second grade, students go down to every five minutes and use a.m. and p.m;. and in third grade they go down to the minute and learn how to measure intervals in time by adding and subtracting and how to solve word problems.

"Your begin in first building foundations and then add more skills," McLellan said. For the time three of the four I referred to earlier were in school, analog time was not a big deal. For me, it was practically the only deal. My first "digital" alarm clock circa mid-1970s flipped over a new number or numbers every minute. It is (yes, I still have it) like a Rolodex, not to be confused with a Rolex watch. If you don't understand any of this, never mind. You probably don't know "Time is on My Side" by the Rolling Stones, "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce or "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" sung by Frank Sinatra, either. (The latter starts out: "It's quarter to three. There's no one in the place, except you and me."

According to the news release, the analog time telling survey consisted of 15 questions and was split into three levels of varying difficulty. It was distributed to 2,100 children between the ages of 6-12 in New York, Florida, Connecticut, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Texas. Children unable to obtain an 80 percent mark in levels 1 and 2 or a 70 percent mark in level 3 were judged not to be able to tell time to an adequate level. Only 263 children out of the entire survey achieved full marks on the test, with 527 children achieving scores of a sufficient level. Based on the sample, findings and criteria stated it was revealed that 25 percent of children were able to tell time.

"Through educational workshops, the nationwide initiative has reached thousands of children across the U.S., seeking to highlight a significant problem with today's youth growing up in the digital age, and allowing the youngsters the opportunity to learn a fundamental component of early childhood and development. The survey assessed over 2,000 children between 6-12 years old in seven states across the U.S., with only 1 in 8 children scoring full marks on the test and only 1 in 10 children even owning a watch," the release said.

However, the premise is important, much more important than selling watches.

"It is alarming how many children only know what a digital clock reads, and despite an era of digital technology, there will undoubtedly come a time when today's youth will need to read the time on an analog clock. It is a basic skill every individual should posses," said DiscountWatchStore.com owner Zai Zhu. (Notice how he got "alarming" in there in a news release about time pieces.) "We've been going up and down the country holding workshops with children in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help educate our children. It is these workshops that inspired the idea for a specially-designed watch for children to learn how to tell time."

The educational watch has a color-coded design, with hour blocks and specifically catered hour and minute hands that correspond with the appropriate information, allowing children to learn to read time on a round dial on their own. The campaign recently had a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise funds and reach as many children throughout the U.S. as possible.

"The ability to tell time on a regular watch is not something being taught to our children. It is important that they learn this lost skill," said Steve Davidson, chief operating officer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada. "At our clubs, we are using the ability to tell time also in our daily math tutoring program."

Today's lesson: I'm not trying to sell watches or with the Boys & Girls Clubs, but I couldn't agree more with the importance of learning about analog time.

Bonus question: What time is quarter till 3 in a song Frank Sinatra sang?

Rick Wagner is an education writer for the Kingsport Times-News and can be reached at [email protected] or (423) 392-1381.

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Behind the Blackboard: Telling time on an analog clock should not be lost to new generations

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Digital natives read time as 3:15 p.m. or 3:45 p.m., not a quarter 'til or quarter after anything. But analog clocks and before that sundials have been around almost as long as civilization. The youngest is learning but not yet complete in understanding analog time; the other three, not so much at all.

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C- 2001-2020
R- Yes, agrees
A- LeapFrog Enterprises
A- no
P- to inform

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Knowing how to tell time is an important skill. There is a lot of debate over whether children need to learn analog time, especially since mobile phones have taken the place of analog watches for many people. While there may be few instances in which children have to rely on being able to read an analog clock, analog clocks help children understand the passage of time because they have hands that are consistently moving. Analog clocks also show time in multiples of five, which is not as transparent with digital clocks. There are a number of fun games to help children learn how to read both analog and digital time. One of my favorites is Eeboo's Time Telling Game (www.eeboo.com). ThinkFun also has a time-telling version of Zingo that helps children learn to read the hour and minute hands on an analog clock and then make the transition to reading digital time (www.thinkfun.com).

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Is it really important for my child to learn analog time?

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Knowing how to tell time is an important skill. There is a lot of debate over whether children need to learn analog time, especially since mobile phones have taken the place of analog watches for many people.

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C- June 28, 2018
R- yes, agrees
A- Eva Szillery
A- no
P- to show importance

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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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C- May 7, 2018
R- yes, both but mainly disagrees
A- Rachelle Hampton
A- no
P- to teach

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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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C- May 4, 2018
R- yes, agrees
A- Brett Molina
A- no
P- to inform

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Despite smartphones and other technological advances, one object has withstood the test of time: the analog clock.

Many of us remember learning about them in schools, between the "big hand, little hand" and converting those numbers to multiples of 5.

But is the analog clock's life in schools slowly ticking away?

According to London's Telegraph, some schools in the U.K. are ditching analog clocks for digital ones because students are struggling to read them.

"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.

Telling time is a key part of elementary school curriculum in the U.S., as many kids read the hands on a clock and write out the correct time.

In 2014, a teacher in Arizona discussed whether it was time to retire the analog clock in an age of smartphones and smartwatches where everything is digital, citing a colleague who wanted to teach his seventh grade class because they couldn't read the analog clock on the wall.

Carol Burris, executive director of the advocacy Network for Public Education and former educator with more than 25 years experience, said teaching analog time still holds value.

"The skills that you need to read an analog clock are skills that kids when they're young begin to learn," she said, citing concepts such as counting by fives and fractions.

Meanwhile, schools using Common Core standards for math require educators to teach kids in earlier grades such as first or second.

While schools in the U.K. have chosen to pull analog clocks, it appears the devices' time in U.S. schools won't expire any time soon.

"There's a lot of very complex mathematical manipulations that are involved in being able to tell time with an analog clock," Burris said. "It takes some of the math skills students are learning and gives them an important real world context."
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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Some students don't know how to read analog clocks. Is it the end of an era?

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Despite smartphones and other technological advances, one object has withstood the test of time: the analog clock. Many of us remember learning about them in schools, between the "big hand, little hand" and converting those numbers to multiples of 5. But is the analog clock's life in schools slowly ticking away?

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C- May 2, 2018
R- yes, agrees
A- Jimmy Kimmel
A- no
P- to entertain