How Many Is A Million? Roger Steinberg, Department of Natural
Sciences, Del Mar College To help students visualize the
immensity of geologic time, or even the immensity of just one
million years, I have created a very large sheet of paper that
contains one million dots. The dots are regularly spaced, 100
per square inch. The dimensions of the sheet of paper are
approximately 50 by 200 inches. I made it by cutting and taping
together 200 pieces of 8 1/2 by 11 paper, each with 5000 dots.
Because of the texture of the dots on the paper, you can kind of
see or 'experience' all million of the dots while viewing from
one end of the paper. Students both visually and viscerally 'get
it'! How this visualization is used in class: I do this visual
demonstration at the end of the semester, just before passing
out the Final Exams, emphasizing that although the semester is
over, learning never ceases. Plus, it helps relieve some pre-
test tension. But you could present it earlier in the semester,
if you wish. I first hand o