This guide is designed to accompany the Timeline of Humanity, which traces the growth of human culture over the last 40,000 years. This 150-page guide provides a conceptual and practical background for the timeline. Topics covered include the value of timelines in teaching history, a description of the timeline's symbols and icons, how to present the timeline to both elementary and adolescent students (including sample presentations), as well as a description of various activities that can be used to spark student interest. The guide also includes 11 "sweep" stories that highlight seminal events in human history and more than 30 pages of supplementary images and materials.