Geologic time, or the time frame of our planet’s history, is several orders of magnitude greater than general human understanding of “time.” When students hear that our planet has a 4.6-billion-year history, they do not necessarily comprehend the magnitude of deep time, the huge expanse of time that has passed from the origin of Earth through the present day. To help students comprehend this difficult concept, this article features two good methods that can be used to introduce the enormity of deep time in middle-level classrooms—The Clap the Earth’s Life demonstration and the Bathroom Tissue Timeline.
Details
Type Journal ArticlePub Date 12/1/2009Stock # ss09_033_04_62Volume 033Issue 04