Young children cannot tell time on old clocks

Newstelegraph.co.uk ^ | September 17, 2002 | Sarah Womack

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Nearly one in three children aged between four and eight cannot tell the time on traditional clock faces.

A study has found that the prevalence of digital clocks on computers, video timers, radio alarms and mobile phones means that children learn to tell the time this way - such as "10:45" rather than "a quarter to eleven".

The survey of 2,950 parents found that the number of children who recognised the "big hand, little hand" method had decreased from 75 per cent to 66 per cent in a year.

Government guidelines state that all children in reception classes - those aged four to five - should be able to read traditional clocks. But 59 per cent cannot.

By year one, aged five to six, they are supposed to understand half and quarter hours, but 52 per cent cannot.

A year later they are meant to have a sense of hours, minutes and seconds, but more than one in four are still struggling. Nearly two thirds of this group cannot tell the time on a digital clock.

Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: "Children are continually being confronted by digital displays and so it is essential that they also learn to tell the time on analogue clocks and watches."

The research was carried out by BMRB International for the watch-makers Flik Flak.

[my3centseuro]

I have to agree with many of you that schools are not teaching basic skills and spend too much time indoctrinating our young ones in the evils of conservatism and religion BUT...

There are some things that just change over time and people have to get over it!! The fact is that most clocks that one sees these days are digital. Would you complain if a study came out that stated that most kids cannot use a rotary dial phone anymore?

I agree that we need to teach kids to read an analog clock but it just is not as important anymore.

I learned the metric system in kindegarten (in an overseas school of course) and I bet that many complaining about the inability of our kids to read analog clock could not tell a decimeter from a minute hand.

The metric system is a much more valuable skill to learn than telling time on an analog clock IMHO.

Too bad they are not replacing the teaching of analog clock reading with more in depth study of something useful instead of teaching why johnny has 2 mothers.

[js1138]

THIS is what clocks and watches should look like. Pure analog. Teaches the valuable skill of estimating.

[Redcloak]

WHY obviously equals 1.

(I don't think that anyone else gets this...)

[Brookhaven]

The day of the analog is passed. Digitals ae more accurate and easier to read.

Analog will continue to be the standard amoung higher end watches and clocks for decades.

Imagine a guy dressed to the teeth. Quality wool suit, silk tie, starched white shirt, and a gold plated DIGITAL watch? Somehow it just doesn't fit in.

Same with nicer desk or wall clocks (the ones that run from $100 to $1000 or more.) Somehow a $1000 digital clock just doesn't cut it.

There's a certain class and elegance about analog clocks that just can not be attained by digital clocks.

Hey, polyester is cheaper and lasts longer than wool, but when was the last time you saw someone wearing a polyester suit?

[Johnny Gage]

All the watches we've bought for our kids up to now (12 & 7) have been traditional face type watches.

I haven't owned a digital watch in many years as well.

[Boot Hill]

Hi Thinkin' Gal,

Thanks for the reply. Maybe you could tell me one other thing. What are digits used to show the number "9" on the dial of that clock? Are they showing "IX" or "VIIII"?

Regards, Boot Hill

[Bon mots]

They can't add on old computers or calculators either.

[mamelukesabre]

I remember that too.

Thanks to that stupid cardboard clock, I had a lot of trouble learning how to tell time on a real clock. Here's why.

For 10:55, the teacher would place the little hand on 10 and the big hand on 55. That was easy to learn. But on a real clock, the little hand is rarely RIGHT ON a number. On a real clock, if it is 10:55, the big hand is on 55 and the little hand is practically on the 11. The teacher didn't teach us that.

[mamelukesabre]

That's not a mistake.

That is the way they did it in the old days. How old is this clock?

[VRWC_minion]

We have a child who has always tested at the top on standardized tests. Its not unussual for him to get perfect math scores on state performance tests.

When he was in first grade the teacher sent home a note that we should help our child with telling time. As soon as we got the note we realized that we had no traditional clocks in the house at all. Within a few weeks after getting one he was able to tell time just fine.

This is no crisis, this is progress. How many of us could set up a sun dial or water clock ?

[templar]

Analog will continue to be the standard amoung higher end watches and clocks for decades.

No doubt about that. I don't care how high tech something might be (like atomic clock driven digitals that are accurate within thousandth of a second or so), it just doesn't have the quality of precision machinery. It doesn't have 'soul' to it.

My 10 year old bought an old watch at a garage sale for a dollar recently. She saw it and just pounced on it, she was that captivated by it. It was just an old Elgin that you had to wind up with the stem, but it had real class. An inscription on the back indicated it was a given as a gift back in 1947. 55 years down the line and it still kept perfect time and, short of a few scratches on the crystal, looked great. Talk about worksmanship (and the worksmen, of course). Just holding it in your hand ... you could just sort of feel the history and workmanship of a few centuries of accumulated watchmaking skills.

Somehow, I doubt that a kid 55 years from now will find an old digital at a garage sale and even notice it, much less fall in love with it.

[templar]

THIS is what clocks and watches should look like. Pure analog. Teaches the valuable skill of estimating.

But ... how can you tell if it's AM or PM?

[Ravaged Nation]

To me, I find it helpful in giving children the 'feel' for how long 15 min, 1/2 hour, 45 min, 1 hour, etc. lasts. And it is helpful in teaching fractions. :)

[ReaganCowboy]

Let's see, before the age of 13 I had (in some ascending order) gone hunting by myself with shotguns, made pipe bombs (and blown them up), built a working mortar, built model hot air ballons painted florescent green and flow them over lakes and homes (terrorizing the old folks), canoed down the 40 mile length of our local river to the Gulf of Mexico, and... hotwired my brother-in-law's car and drove to the State Line Bar where I bought beer and cigarettes at the package window.

At 14, I left most of that behind to pursue girls...

[MsGail61]

Now they'll have to come up with something besides "hands at 10 and 2 o'clock" when they teach drivers ed.

[Rebelbase]

The same percentage can't tie their shoes, IMO.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Nine is just plain old "IX". It's a new clock, just a cheapo $20 variety.

[fourdeuce82d]

At 14, I left most of that behind to pursue girls...

Oh great. Now I have to consider the ramifications of having a girl child. Thanks. *grin*

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

(I don't think that anyone else gets this...)

{don't bet the farm on that...I grew up surrounded by scientific achievment, and currently hold my masters' in EE ...er..."some" of our fellow FReepers likely grew up surrounded with families consisting of engineers and scientists and may even hold dual masters'...}

shhh....