We had an interesting lecture with Richard on the use of time a few days ago, I suppose that I had never really though too much about time before. I have always just assumed that time was a simple thing; non-confusing and quite easy to grasp. Then I remember that this view is from an adult’s stance, of course time is hard to grasp.

Firstly we discussed what exactly is time? What is linear time? I had a rough idea of what this term meant from my sci-fi love of tv, including shows such as Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and of course doctor who. Richard touched upon one of my favourite episodes from Doctor Who, ‘Blink’, if you have never seen this episode then go watch it now! It is a fantastic episode! And one of my all-time favourite doctor who lines is in it,

I love this line as it kind of resonates within me, in how I would describe time. Have you ever fallen asleep and woken up after a few hours? Of course you have. But have you ever felt like you just closed your eyes? How could time have passed that fast? You were so sure that it had only been 5/10 minutes since they closed. Someone must be playing a trick on you!

On a serious note though, time is one of the most important aspects of everyday life. If you think about it, what else is a constant every day? Passes at the same speed? (Even if we believe it has not). How would the world cope without time? Bus and train timetables, lecture timetables and school timetables are all examples of timetables which I use within my life, and that I need to know how to understand. Maths is clearly involved with timetables.

I had to wonder, before we had digital and analogue, how did we manage to tell time?  The answer is Sundials. This creation provided a means of being able telling the time based on the movement of the sun. The sun changes its position on the sundial throughout the day as it orbits, casting a shadow on the sundial. The fundamental maths behind this could be through movement and angles. But in today’s society we no longer deal with sundials, we deal with digital more and more, and analogue less and less.

This made me think back to my MA1 placement when I taught my p6’s and 7’s about time. I remember being shocked that children as old as 10 or 11 years old, were still unsure about time and how to tell it. Surely our child population can tell the time? After speaking with my pupils, I discovered that they would like to be able to tell the time but they just did not see the point in it. They all have laptops, mobiles and televisions which can tell them the time in a much simpler format in their opinion; digital. They did not understand why they had to learn analogue, as it was not a part of their life anymore and they felt like it was something of the past generations. I was shocked. Can I really be classified as that old?

Richard suggested that time has maybe become a life lesson, something that you should learn from your parents or carers. There are several life lessons which we learn at home, such as using cutlery or putting clothes on oneself, should time be the same? I remember growing up with analogue clocks around all of my home but then my mum is a big fan of analogue clocks. We had one in every room nearly, and I can’t help but wonder if this was a tactic used so my siblings and I would be comfortable with the time? Maybe.

In case I got you wanting to watch the doctor who episode, here is the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFBZmw4nSww

Picture available at: http://www.yourfriendelle.com/david-tennants-best-doctor-who-lines/

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFBZmw4nSww