Preparation
For the activity you will need a timeline made from 12 sheets of A4 paper. Each sheet of paper represents one month. Divide the month of December into 31 squares. These are the days. Number the days 1 to 31. On a sheet of coloured A4 paper, draw a section of a circle as shown in the drawing. This represents the last 10 minutes of December. Display the timeline, together with the section of the circle, on the wall in the classroom, preferably within reach of the students.
Activity 1: What is a year?
Step 1:
The students complete Task 1 on the worksheet.
Step 2:
Explain briefly what a year is. Ask if every year is the same length of time.
Step 3:
Discuss the following questions: How old is old? Is a father old? And a grandfather? Father Christmas? An antique chair?
Step 4:
Discuss with the students how far back in time we know about. Explain that most of what we know about long ago comes from written sources. Everything that we know about the time before people learned to write has been deduced by scientists on the basis of research, such as archaeological digs.
Step 5:
The students will investigate how old the universe is and when important events took place in the universe and on Earth.
Activity 2: Timeline of the universe
Step 1:
Draw the students' attention to the timeline. Ask students if they know what the universe is. Explain that this timeline shows time from the beginning of the universe to the present day. Now look at the section of the circle and explain that this shows the last ten minutes in the year.
Step 2:
Organise the students into groups of three. Give each group a calculator or a sheet of squared paper.
Step 3:
The students complete Tasks 2a to c. Help them to complete the table. Explain how to calculate how long a month on the timeline is in reality (15 billion years divided by 12 months = each month on the timeline is 1.25 billion years in reality). You can find the answers in the list below. The students will need this information for the next task.
Time on timeline
|
Time in reality
|
1 year
|
15 billion years
|
1 month
|
1.25 billion (1250 million) years
|
1 week
|
300 million years
|
1 day
|
43 billion years
|
1 hour
|
1.8 million (1,800,000) years
|
1 minute
|
30,000 years
|
1 second
|
500 years
|
Good to know:
According to the Big Bang theory, the universe was “born” around 13.7 billion years ago (however, in the remainder of this exercise we will say that it was born 15 billion years ago, for ease of calculation). After this, the universe developed, the galaxies (including our own, the Milky Way) were formed, the Sun was born, and the Earth took shape. The various geological eras passed, and life as we know it today evolved from the first living organisms. On the timeline the students will be making, the Big Bang took place at 00.00 on 1 January. Earth was born in September, and the first humans appeared on 31 December at 23.57.
Time on timeline
|
Time in reality
|
Event
|
1 January
|
15 billion years ago
|
beginning of the universe
|
early January – mid-March
|
12 – 14.7 billion years ago
|
birth of solar systems
|
early September
|
5 billion years ago
|
birth of Sun and planets
|
end of September
|
3.8 billion years ago
|
emergence of first life forms
|
25 December
|
225 million years
|
mammals appear on Earth
|
29 December
|
65 million years ago
|
extinction of dinosaurs, more mammals appear
|
30 December
|
5 million years ago
|
first ancestors of man appear
|
31 December 23.53.00
|
195,000 years ago
|
Homo Sapiens appears
|
31 December 23.59.52
|
4300 years ago
|
building of Stonehenge
|
31 December 23.59.59
|
around 400 years ago
|
invention of the telescope
|
Step 4:
Give each group a specific event to investigate. The third column of the above table shows eleven events that can be shared among the groups.
Step 5:
The groups complete Task 2d to j. The students calculate the point on the timeline on which their event took place. Before they begin, discuss the example on the worksheet.
Step 6:
For Task 2, hand out craft paper, colouring pencils, glue and scissors. Encourage the students to make something associated with the event they have just investigated and paste it in the correct place on the timeline.
Activity 3: How old is old?
Step 1:
The students complete Task 3 on the worksheet.
Step 2:
Discuss the answers and the timeline. Explain that the entire timeline covers a span of 15 billion years. So one second on the timeline actually represents 500 years! Come to the conclusion that the universe is very old, that the Earth came into existence relatively recently and that people have only lived on the planet for a really short time.