CTS Guide: Earth’s History, pp 224-225- Section IV Research Summaries

Geologic Time

• Students have a difficult time understanding the magnitude of geologic time. Because their experience with time has been in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years, the concept of thousands, millions, and billions of years is almost incomprehensible (Trend 1998).

Change Over Time

• Students of all ages may hold the view that the world has always been the way it is now and any changes that occurred were sudden and comprehensive (Freyberg 1985).