The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (1994) state that in the early grades students should be able to "read and construct simple timelines; identify examples of change; and recognize examples of cause and effect relationships;" (p. 34) In the middle grades they should be able to "identify key concepts such as chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity;" (p. 34)
The time line is a way of ordering and organizing information so that meaningful relationships can be visualized between events. A definite scale showing space equal to time is used. These time lines give two kinds of information -- order of events and amount of time between events.
Sure the spaces on my time line aren't all the same distance apart. I needed room to write important things. Why can't I do that?
Ezegelyan (1969) suggested starting with the immediate and the relevant. Making time lines for a week of each child's life is an important first step. Later a significant event in the children's lives can be used as a landmark event. Things that happened before and after that can be labeled with letters designated by the children to help them understand the concept of B.C. and A.D. One question in Ezegelyan's article points out the fact that she, like many, did not fully explain a landmark event. She suggested that the teacher ask the children, "was that before or after the year zero?" A time line does not have a year zero, but only a year one B.C. and one A.D.
Marx (1967) claimed to have constructed a time line meaningful to second graders covering many periods in history. She suggested that the children study important events from each period of history. Presentations about these events could be made by the students. After this, pictures, book covers, and three dimensional objects could be added to the time line to illustrate the concepts. Studying the people and countries in which these events took place, she believed, gave more meaning to the items studied.
May (1969) felt that comparing the time line to the clock provided meaning and understanding. She suggested making a time line for the sixty minutes in an hour. This was divided into half and quarter hours in sections above the original time line. From the straight number line she moved to the curved number line or the clock.
Long (1953) proposed making a time line to go with a poem, listing the important events in it on the line.
According to Miller (1948) the time line should be related to the text and other materials. She encouraged drawing pictures and writing to go with the drawings. Individual time lines were recommended for the children's lives and for short periods in American history. The historical time line, she said, can be topics of special interest to children. Putting too much on a time line could be detrimental. If children bring too many events to fit on one time period on the paper, envelopes could be prepared for sections of the time line. Children could place cards describing events in the envelopes and a committee could decide which should be placed on the time line. She suggested a pageant to summarize the learnings.
Jarolimek (1962) agrees with other writers: "For pupils of elementary-school age, the time-space chart should include sketches, diagrams, and pictures to illustrate ideas. A large bulletin board might be prepared to show relationships between events in selected areas" (p. 285). Like others, he also felt that parallel listings could help the child see relationships. He says that "pupils do not always realize that during the nation's early history, various ways of living prevailed simultaneously in the United States" (p. 281).
Consider the ways a foreign ambassador, a sales representative, a business person, a lawyer, or a doctor might need the information a time line with parallel listings contains. In ordinary day-to-day activities, people often find it necessary to decipher or prove that relationships exist between and among events. A person securing pledges for a worthy cause tries to help people see the relationship between generous giving and the welfare of others. People on a diet keep records to note relationships between their eating habits and loss of weight. Parents and teachers help their children see relationships between actions and consequences.
Scourzo (1967) believes that using photographs to go with a time line can be meaningful in science. Subjects such as the growth of blossoms and fruit, changes in tides, and in shadows are suggested by him. This could also be done in social studies with pictures from newspapers or photos taken by the teacher. The photos could relate to growth or change in society.
Hoffman (1958) described lessons with fifth graders of the University School at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Students began by constructing time lines of their own personal experiences. Parents helped the children recall events to place on them. Then the time lines were discussed in class. Later each student constructed a national time line, an international time line, and a cultural time line for the ten-year period that was covered by the personal time line. Then students wrote an autobiography based on their personal time line. Discussions helped them see how their lives related to the events in the world at large. Later the class studied the nation's history during the pre-colonial, colonial, and expansion periods. Each child selected one of the three periods for special reading. Out of the chosen period, the child selected a ten-year time span to examine and tried to imagine him/herself as living in that period, relating the personal time line of ten years and the autobiography to that interval. The absence of medical knowledge, transportation facilities, and other conveniences would have created entirely different views of life.