This section focuses on analyzing the sequential nature of historical events using timelines. The material presented is designed to help you meet the following objective.
- Analyze the sequential nature of historical events using timelines.
Timelines are a primary teaching tool for history. One of their strengths is that they present sequences of events simply and clearly. They are an effective way for students to learn about chronological time and to connect specific information nuggets to historical eras and larger historic themes. According to Elise Fillpot, the creator of the Bringing History Home program for grades K-5, “[t]imelines help students understand the chronology of historic events, and help students situate newly encountered events and figures in relation to those they’ve already studied” (Fillpot, 2007-8, par. 3). They can demonstrate how “events, eras, and topics overlap in time” (Fillpot, par. 3) and are also useful in allowing students to compare historical eras.
Peter Britton points out that when students create their own timelines, they are developing skills in “sorting and evaluating information [and] think[ing] about the topic in an analytical way, [which] reinforces in them a sense of chronology, and helps them reach an overview (i.e., understanding) of the whole topic” (Britton, 2012, par. 5). He warns, however, that timelines have the potential to mislead through an overabundance of detail or through oversimplification.
One advantage of teaching with timelines is that they can be personalized to an individual student’s life. They are also flexible: they can span any segment of time, “ranging from a day, a year, a century, or the span of an individual’s life or of an era” (Timelines, n.d., par. 1). Ambitiously, they can span the whole of world history. Click the link below to see!
