Time Durations

Overview

This 30-minute session introduces year 8 students to reading and interpreting timetables, focusing on understanding duration and scheduling. It is part 18 of 30 in the unit "Mastering Metric Measurements." Students will develop skills in reading timetables, calculating durations, and converting between units of time, aligned closely with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh for Mathematics and Statistics at year 8.

Curriculum Links

Achievement Objectives

• Measurement:
  • Read, interpret, and use timetables and charts that present information about duration
  • Convert between units of time and solve duration problems involving fractions of time
  • Explain methods to calculate duration by subtracting time

Key Competencies

• Thinking: Apply mathematical reasoning to solve timetable and duration problems
• Using language, symbols, and texts: Interpret mathematical information from timetables and express duration calculations
• Managing self: Organise and plan tasks involving sequential time events

Teaching Considerations

• Use practical examples including digital and paper timetables
• Model subtraction of times to find durations
• Emphasise units of time and conversions (hours, minutes, seconds)
• Incorporate digital tools or apps if available for interactive learning
• Connect duration understanding to real-life contexts like planning journeys or school activities

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Read and interpret simple timetables and charts regarding events and schedules
• Calculate the duration between starting and finishing times
• Convert time units where necessary to support duration calculation (hours, minutes)
• Understand the concept of duration as the difference between two times

Resources

• Printed or digital timetables (school bus schedules, event timelines, train timetables)
• Worksheets with timetable reading and duration problems
• Clocks (analogue and digital displays)
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer or stopwatch for activity timing

Lesson Plan

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

• Begin with a quick recap: "What units do we use to measure time? How long is 1 hour? 1 minute?"
• Introduce timetables with a real-life example (e.g., a bus schedule), focusing on how these show starting and ending times of events or trips.
• Explain that today we are learning to read these tables carefully and calculate how long something takes.

2. Guided Practice (10 minutes)

• Display a sample timetable on the board (or projector). Example: School bus arrival and departure times at different stops.
• Model reading the timetable: Identify when the bus leaves and arrives at each stop.
• Demonstrate subtracting times to find duration, e.g., if a bus leaves at 9:15 AM and arrives at 9:50 AM, how long is the trip?
• Highlight converting units, such as understanding that 9:50 - 9:15 is 35 minutes.
• Work through 2-3 examples with the class, asking guiding questions to check understanding.

3. Independent Activity (10 minutes)

• Distribute worksheets with various timetable reading and duration calculation tasks aligned to year 8 skills. Tasks include:
  • Reading simple school or public transport timetables
  • Calculating duration between two times
  • Converting between hours and minutes (e.g. 1 hour 30 minutes as decimal hours 1.5)
• Circulate to support students as they work, prompting where needed.

4. Reflection and Discussion (5 minutes)

• Invite a few students to share their answers and explain their thinking on how they found durations.
• Discuss challenges or common errors (e.g., forgetting to convert minutes properly).
• Emphasise the importance of accuracy with units when interpreting real-world schedules.

Assessment

• Formative assessment through observation during guided and independent tasks to gauge understanding of timetable reading and duration calculation.
• Review worksheet responses for accuracy in subtraction of time and unit conversions.
• Check students use appropriate units and clear reasoning in explanations.

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Notes for Teachers

This lesson connects directly to the New Zealand Curriculum's focus on using and interpreting measures of time and duration as outlined in the refreshed curriculum document Te Mātaiaho (October 2024). It encourages practical application of subtracting time and converting units, building towards proficient use of metric measurement and time across various contexts .

Featuring real-life timetables fosters engagement and helps students appreciate the functional maths in everyday life, thus grounding abstract concepts in authentic contexts. Teaching should be scaffolded and interactive, ensuring enough time for guided practice to support all learners with this sometimes challenging concept.

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If you need some exemplar timetable tables or problem sheets tailored for these activities, I can help create them too!