SS 115: TEACHING APPROACHES IN SECONDARY SOCIAL STUDIES 1

EDNAVE, RONALD E.
EKID, JACKIE CHRYSDALE A.
SIOCO, JOVY A.

CHRONOLOGICAL APPROACH
Timeline
A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar
labeled with dates alongside itself and usually events. Gantt Chart is a form of timeline used in project management.
Timelines can use any time scale, depending on the subject and data. Most timelines use a linear scale, in which a unit
of distance is equal to a set amount of time. This timescale is dependent on the events in the timeline. A timeline of
evolution can be over millions of years, whereas a timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks can take place over
minutes, and an explosion over milliseconds. While most timelines use a linear timescale, for very large or small
timespans, logarithmic timelines use a logarithmic scale to depict time.

Types
There are different types of timelines

 Text timelines, labeled as text

 Number timelines, the labels are numbers, commonly line graphs
 Interactive, clickable, zoomable
There are many methods of visualizations for timelines. Historically, timelines were static images and generally drawn
or printed on paper. Timelines relied heavily on graphic design, and the ability of the artist to visualize the data.
Timelines, no longer constrained by previous space and functional limitations, are now digital and interactive, generally
created with computer software. ChronoZoom is an example of computer-aided interactive timeline software.

Uses of timelines
Timelines are often used in education to help students and researchers with understanding the order or chronology of
historical events and trends for a subject. When showing time on a specific scale on an axis, a timeline can be used to
visualize time lapses between events, durations (such as lifetimes or wars), and the simultaneity or overlap of spans
and events.
In historical studies
Timelines are particularly useful for studying history, as they convey a sense of change over time. Wars and social
movements are often shown as timelines. Timelines are also useful for biographies. Examples include:

 Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

 Timeline of European exploration
 Timeline of imperialism
 Timeline of Solar System exploration
 Timeline of United States history
 Timeline of World War I
 Timeline of religion
In natural sciences
Timelines are also used in the natural world and sciences, for subjects such as astronomy, biology, and geology:

 2009 flu pandemic timeline

 Chronology of the universe
 Geologic time scale
 Timeline of evolutionary history of life
In project management
Another type of timeline is used for project management. In these cases, timelines are used to help team members to
know what milestones need to be achieved and under what time schedule. For example, in the case of establishing a
project timeline in the implementation phase of the life cycle of a computer system.

Strengths:

Organization
Timeline analysis enables users to arrange the pieces of information that they collect in a coherent manner. When
applying timeline analysis to a particular topic or problem question, analysts should arrange the information
according to the time at which they occurred. Once the analyst has entered all of the information into the timeline,
he/she may precede one step further in the organizational process and establish links among related data. Such
links among data facilitate an analyst’s assessment of a topic or problem question.

Illustration
With timeline analysis, users create a pictorial representation of the information that they collect. Creating a
timeline helps analysts visualize the evolution/flow of information over a predetermined period of time (i.e., the
user sets the parameters of the timeline). This pictorial representation of information often reveals otherwise
unobservable patterns and relationships among data; such revelations facilitate an analyst’s ability to dissect a topic
or problem question, and make an estimative judgment about it.

Ease of Use/Simplicity
Using a timeline to analyze a topic or problem question is a simple, yet effective technique. After an analyst
completes the research phase of a project, he/she may begin creating a timeline. If the analyst is working with a
minimal amount of information (i.e., five to ten pieces of information), he/she may only need a pencil and
paper. However, if the analyst wishes to include a significant amount of data (i.e., more than ten pieces of
information) in the timeline, he/she may use one of the many affordable timeline analysis software programs; these
programs typically include a simple, step-by-step tutorial that explains how to create a timeline.

No Specialized Training or Education Required

Timeline analysis does not require that an analyst have any specialized training or education. If an analyst is
insecure in his/her knowledge of creating timelines, there are a number of affordable resources (i.e., Internet,
books, etc.) that he/she may use as guidance. There are also tutorials embedded within the majority of timeline
analysis software programs that analysts may explore before actually creating the timeline.

Cost-efficient
Creating a timeline for analytic purposes requires very little, if any, money. An analyst may create a timeline using
only a pencil and paper; however, the feasibility of this approach decreases as the amount of information that the
analyst wishes to include in the timeline increases. If an analyst collects and wishes to include a substantial
amount of information within the timeline, he/she may choose to purchase an affordable software program, such as
Analyst’s Notebook, which has timeline-generating capabilities. These software programs are capable of handling
much larger amounts of information and provide users with more physical space within which to create the
timeline.

Weaknesses:
 SS 115: TEACHING APPROACHES IN SECONDARY SOCIAL STUDIES 3

Sensitive to Unknown Information

Users create a timeline and analyze the information within it with the intention of identifying patterns and
relationships among various pieces of data. Ultimately, an analyst will use these patterns and relationships to make
an estimative judgment about a topic or problem question. If an analyst does not have access to all of the
information that is pertinent to the topic or problem question, he/she will make an estimative judgment that is
based upon an incomplete pictorial representation. An analyst can only communicate known information,
therefore, timeline analysis is sensitive to missing information.

Analysis Dependent Upon Human Decisions

Timelines represent only the information that an analyst deems pertinent to resolving the problem or making an
estimative judgment about a topic or problem question. Consequently, applying timeline analysis to a specific
topic or problem question does not always result in the most beneficial decision or the most accurate estimative
judgment. Timeline analysis, therefore, is partially dependent upon the individual performing the analysis.

Time-consuming
Depending upon the amount of information that an analyst collects and includes, creating a timeline is often time-
consuming. Creating a timeline involves manually entering all relevant and reliable information, positioning each
piece of data according to the time at which it occurred, and linking all related information. The time-consuming
nature of this technique makes it difficult to apply when an analyst is under a strict time-constraint.

REFERENCES:

1. Grafton, Anthony; Rosenberg, Daniel (2010), Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline, Princeton
Architectural Press, p. 272, ISBN 978-1-56898-763-7
2. Jump up^ plarson (2016-09-01). "Anomaly Updates". SpaceX. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
3. http://mercyhurststudent.tripod.com/id11.html