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Many teachers have discovered the value of using timelines (including student-created timelines) to help put curriculum in perspective. The ultimate graphic organizers, timelines provide a visual tool for studying a brief period of time -- a day, a year, or an individual's life -- or for examining a topic across the centuries. Researching and creating timelines appeals to students' visual, mathematic, and kinesthetic intelligences.

Make a Clothesline Timeline
In this project, which can be adapted for any subject, the simple "clothesline timeline" is applied to the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Make a Timeline With Excel
In this Education World "techtorial," Lorrie Jackson provides step-by-step instructions for using Microsoft Excel to create a simple timeline. The lesson focuses on the American Revolution, but can be adapted for any period or topic.

Build a Database/Timeline
These simple instructions detail how to use a word processing or spreadsheet program to create a database/timeline of events that can be sequenced, sorted, and searched. The lesson focuses on Black History Month, but can be adapted to any period or topic.

Educators Review TimeLiner 5.0
TimeLiner software enables K-12 students to create timelines by entering events and dates. Education World's reviewers -- teachers and ed tech specialists -- checked out TimeLiner with real students in actual classroom situations. Read what they had to say.

A Sampling of Timeline Lessons from Education World
In these lessons, students use timelines to learn about a wide variety of topics, people, and time periods.

• Our Flag Throughout History
• Wright Brothers Timeline
• Telling Time Timeline
• Timeline of Historical Fiction
• History of Toys and Games
• Popcorn History
• Lewis and Clark's Journey West: A Timeline Activity
• A World of Special Celebrations
• Olympic Timelines

Student-Created Timelines Online
The following are just a handful of the timelines students have created and posted online. The selection is intended to show the variety of approaches students might take as they produce their own timelines.

• Galileo Life Line
• The Martin Luther King Timeline Page
• Fashion and Fads Timeline
• Local History Timeline
• Presidents of the United States Timeline

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
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