MERLOT Learning Material Evaluation

I chose to evaluate the resource found at: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=83093 Without going to MERLOT, you can view the resource at: http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/Math_Games/Jude_e-Clock/clock.htm

In my 3rd grade classroom, some of my students still do not know how to tell time on an analog clock and many have a difficult time with elapsed time. During my math time block I will allow students time on the computer to utilize this interactive resource.

Quality of Content:

This source presents valid models of the clock in various analog, digital, and word settings. I found this source to be educationally significant, especially to my students, because according to the lower elementary core mathematics standards, students must be able to read a clock and tell time. The fact that you can see the same time presented in words, in a digital format, and in various analog formats, makes students familiar with the different clocks that they may encounter.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:

This material could be used in a demonstration of time to your students, but mainly for the purpose of practicing the concept of time and reading a clock. After learning with this material, students should be able to tell time using words and numbers, read an analog and digital clock, understand the difference between an hour and a minute, and manipulate the clock to understand elapsed time. The target learners for this material are lower elementary students who are learning to tell time and understand elapsed time. To support learners, the hour and minute features are color coded. This interactive presentation of time improves students’ abilities to learn the concept of time by manipulating the clock and reading the time. Students can switch to an analog clock face that shows how you can count by 5’s between each of the 12 large numbers on the clock in order to understand the number of minutes in a given time. Since this material is available online through an htm address, as long as student computers are available, it can be readily integrated into the mathematics curriculum. Students may be given a computer time block to manipulate this resource. Students may use this resource in a variety of ways, whether they are focusing only on hours or minutes, or even 1, 5, 10, 15, or 30 minute intervals. They may add or subtract time and even manipulate the center clock to determine elapsed time. The learning goals for this material are very easy to identify as it is evident that this is a tool used to practice telling time and reading a clock. With the use of this material, students may answer questions about time and elapsed time that the teacher can easily put into an assignment.

Ease of Use:

The layout of this material makes it very easy to use. Buttons are labeled and color coded for ease of use and to attract students. The material and it’s purpose are straightforward and located on one page to avoid the user from becoming lost within the model. It is very flexible, as the user can focus on hours, minutes, or elapsed time using various clock faces, both digital and analog, that they may be familiar with. The only downfall of this resource is that it does not provide feedback based on the user’s responses. It could use sound to tell the time aloud or give feedback on the elapsed time that the user creates and determines.