Brief Description of the Site:
Are you on Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific time? And is yours one of the U.S. states and/or territories that do not adhere to Daylight Savings Time? Which ones? The answer is here, on the home page’s interactive map of the U.S. and territories showing the four time zones of the continental U.S. plus the four others (Alaska, Hawaiian-Aleutian, etc.). ‘Mousing’ over a particular state brings up its name and time zone, and clicking brings up a global map showing which parts of the world are in daylight and which are in nightfall. An added bonus is the “Time Exhibitsâ€. There are six sections (A Walk Through Time, Calendars Through the Ages, etc.) that take the user off-site to places such as the Encylopedia Brittanica’s “Clockworks from Sundials to the Atomic Second†or to the Smithsonian’s “The Quartz Watch†page.
How to use the site:
For students struggling to understand the concept of time zones, or studying the history of U.S. time zones, the map provides an excellent graphic explanation of the four continental zones. Students might also enjoy guessing the identity of each outlined state before ‘mousing’ over check their answer. But the best part of the site has to be the Exhibits, which provide a fascinating look at the concepts of time keeping, time-pieces, and even calendars. These pages in particular might be an excellent addition to a Web Quest.
