If a place on Earth has huge changes between the temperature in the summer vs the winter, would that place be closer to one of the poles or the equator? Why?

The temperature and climate in the tropics near the equator are very much the same through out the year.

The temperatures and climate closer to the poles have larger changes between summer and winter.

In Alaska near the north pole there is a day in summer when the sun never completely sets and a day in winter when the sun never completely rises.

The earth is titled on its axis so that as the earth orbits the sun the angle of the earth to the sun changes. In June the north pole is pointed to the sun so the days in the northern hemisphere are the longest days of they year. In June the south pole is pointed away from the sun and the days of the year are the shortest.

The variation in the amount of sunlight that the areas receive due to the title and rotation of the earth around the sun causes the large changes in temperature in those areas.

Since the sub point of the sun (the place were the sunlight strikes at a right angle) is always between the Tropics (Cancer and Capricorn), and the equator is in the middle of the Tropics the length of day and night is always equal to each other.