Presentation of the Hand Chart

Age
6-9.

Materials
Black strip of cloth 10' x 1', the last half inch is red.


 * The black is to give the sensorial impression of "nothingness.".
 * The scale is 100,000 years per foot.
 * The hand holding the stone tool is the approximate time that humans developed tools.
 * The entire length of the strip represents the time humans have been on earth (1 million years).
 * The red 1/2 inch is recorded history beginning about 4,000 BC.

Presentation

 * 1) Roll out the black strip.
 * 2) Say something like..."humans are now learning to walk, finding things,"...
 * 3) "WAIT!" "Something has happened. It took humans all this time to develop tools."
 * 4) "For a long time, humans continued to develop and change and after a long time, humans developed writing as represented by the small red strip."
 * 5) Follow up.
 * 6) Have discussions with the interested children on the following subjects: What does it mean to be human? How did the development of the hand influence the development of tool making and writing?
 * 7) It is not necessary for them to arrive at any specific conclusion, merely to have considered the questions.