Scale
Human beings have a hard time with scale. How do you get your mind around a grain of sand compared to a planet? A decade of a person’s life compared to billions of years in the life of a star? In these scale activities and lessons, you’ll get a Big History perspective on humanity and our Universe. Use it to help students master the art of scale switching, a tool that will change the way they think.
Featured Materials
Scale – Human History on a String
Activity
Scale – Human History on a String
How do you compare a 13.8-billion-year history of the entire Universe with a timeline of human accomplishments? All you need is a calculator and some string!
Scale – Timelines
Activity
Scale – Timelines
Timelines are extremely useful tools to help understand the scale of history, but how do you fit all the important events on one line?
Scale – Big History on a Football Field
Activity
Scale – Big History on a Football Field
Put the time scale of Big History into perspective using your school's football field.
To Scale: The Solar System
Video
To Scale: The Solar System
If the Sun is a huge beach ball and the Earth is a little marble, how far apart should they be if you are making a true scale model of the Solar System?
Scale – History of Me
Activity
Scale – History of Me
Time to compose your own history, but you have to think big. Tell your story thinking about your family, your community, your nation, and the planet as a whole.