Central Time Zone

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/central-time-zone

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How many people live in Central Time Zone?Home to an estimated over 100 million people
2. How big is Central Time Zone?Covers a substantial geographical area, approximately 12 time zones wide in longitude
3. What is the standard time offset?UTC-6 (Central Standard Time)
4. What is the daylight saving time offset?UTC-5 (Central Daylight Time)
5. Where does the Central Time Zone cover?The zone covers the Great Plains, the Ozark Mountains, the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, and parts of Central America. In the U.S. it follows state lines or rivers to make borders clear.
6. Why did the Central Time Zone start in 1883?In 1883, railroad companies made a rule so trains could run on a set schedule. This helped everyone know the time instead of each town deciding its own time.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): The global time standard that forms the basis for civil time worldwide, replacing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Central Standard Time (CST): The designation for the time zone when Daylight Saving Time is not observed, equivalent to UTC-6.
Central Daylight Time (CDT): The designation for the time zone when Daylight Saving Time is observed, equivalent to UTC-5.
Longitude: Imaginary lines on a map that measure distance east or west of the Prime Meridian.