Summer Special: Making Sense of Time: Why Teaching Time Is Harder Than You Think

In this bite-sized summer special of The Primary Maths Podcast, Jon and Becky tackle one of the trickiest topics in primary maths: telling the time. From the quirks of analogue clocks to the ubiquity of digital displays, they explore how our approach to teaching time might need a rethink in light of how children experience the modern world.

They discuss:

• Why telling the time is more cognitively demanding than many realise
• The case for introducing digital time first and why it might make life easier for everyone
• How language, fractions, and number line concepts all come into play when learning analogue clocks
• What other education systems (like Singapore and Shanghai) do differently
• Why developmental readiness matters more than curriculum speed

Plus, in this week’s Maths of Life, Jon dives into the fascinating history of temperature scales from Celsius and Fahrenheit to Kelvin and why zero means very different things depending on the thermometer you’re looking at.

Whether you’re teaching EYFS pupils to recognise o’clock, guiding Year 2s through quarter past, or still wrestling with 24-hour conversions yourself, this episode is packed with practical insights and a few laughs along the way.

If you’ve enjoyed this summer series, follow the show, leave a review, or share it with a colleague.

Listen now and make your next ‘time’ lesson a little less stressful.

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