Children's Analog and Digital Clock Knowledge

Abstract

FRIEDMAN, WILLIAM J., and LAYCOCK, FRANK. Children's Analog and Digital Clock Knowledge. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1989, 60, 357-371. Understanding the clock system requires knowledge of several distinct components, including reading displays, transforming times, and understanding their temporal referents. 2 experiments were conducted to determine the ages at which children can read and transform times given in analog and digital displays, can link times to activities, and can judge the order of hours in the day. Altogether, 240 children from first to fifth grades were tested. Digital time reading was well developed by the first grade. Analog time reading was equivalent only for whole-hour problems, with some other times proving difficult even for the oldest children. However, there was no overall digital advantage for tasks requiring the addition of 30 min, and the relative difficulty of analog and digital displays varied by problem type. Reported methods indicated that children used a number of different processes in solving the problems. In spite of the gradual development of reading and transformation skills, even the youngest children knew the times of many activities and understood the order in which daily activities occur. However, clock times were not incorporated in the earliest representations of the order of daily events.