June 27, 2023

Many young people have difficulty with their relationships with social media and ‘influencers’ that can sometimes overwhelm their lives. 

How can reflecting on different concepts of time contextualize students’ experiences in the bigger picture and make them feel like they belong to something larger than themselves? One strategy we can use to inspire students is the Timeline Toolⓒ, a visual thinking organizer. It was designed to encourage students to imagine different periods of time which have no relation to their own and reflect on learning from the past to build a better world. This process may enrich students’ understanding of the challenges of being empathic and caring for living things beyond their own timeframe. The benefit of exploring their own identity and behavior in different contexts, from what they can imagine and are comfortable with to what is unknown, is that it can help students develop a greater understanding of their place in their world at this time.

The Timeline Toolⓒ can help students think about time in critical,…