August 3, 2022- Our class relived how primitive cultures tell time by creating sundials. Sundials are the oldest known devices to measure time. It depends on the rotation and movement of the sun. The Egyptians were the first to use the sundials. They used a stick or pillar called the gnomon. The surface of a sundial has markings for each hour of daylight. As the Sun moves across the sky from east to west, another part of the sundial casts a shadow on these markings. The position of the shadow shows what time it is during the day.
We use paper plates and straws to recreate the Egyptians' sundials. Our sundials look like a regular clock but there is only one hand. We decorated our sundials with art and colors. Then we went outside, pointed the 12 position on the sundial north, we can see the shadow of the gnomon on the dial. Through this process, we can actually can tell time to as close as 7 1/2 minutes.
By the use of these time devices, we can tell that it was time to go home when the straw/gnomon hits 3:24pm!