Activity 16

How Long Is a Day?

You might not think going for a walk in nature could lead to math, but it’s true. Math and Nature are very close friends. If you know nature well, patterns, shapes, and numbers can help you pass on what you know about the world around us.

Keep track of the time the sun rises and sets every day for a year. Pick 1 day a week, and use the chart on the next page to mark the time of sunrise and sunset on that day. Your chart will show the pattern as the days get longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. You will see a big jump when the time changes because of daylight savings time. (Spring forward, fall back.)
You can find the time of the sunrise and sunset on the TV weather channel, or in the newspaper.

You can also look it up online (for example at http://www.earthtools.org/). When you are online, check to see if the time they give is standard time or daylight savings time, and adjust accordingly.