Diptych Sundial

Key Stage: 3 and 4
Length: 1-2 hours (adaptable)
Maximum number: See Planning a visit

The Museum has a fabulous collection of early astronomical and time-keeping instruments including clocks, sundials and astrolabes.

The session builds on students’ understanding of the movement of the Earth and Sun, and the application of scientific ideas to the invention of time-telling instruments. They make working models of two different types of 17th-century pocket sundials from the collection.

Students explore learning through objects in small groups via a close encounter with a selection of unusual timepieces from the Museum’s collection.

The Museum has wide-ranging collection of early astronomical instruments associated with time including an extraordinary collection of sundials of many different designs. It also has a world-class collection of astrolabes, a versatile calculating instrument used for time-telling, astrology and surveying.