Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is time? Is it linear or cyclical? Based on your understanding of the concept of time, is time travel possible? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Although time is something students encounter regularly in their everyday lives—setting their alarm clocks and waking up “on time,” checking the time on their cell phones, etc.—some students may struggle to define such an abstract concept. Consider having them work with a partner to develop a working definition of time. These short answer questions can help activate prior learning and engage student interest in the novel’s subject matter of time travel. You can use these questions to help prepare students to understand the concept of the tesseract, a method of traveling long distances without time passing.

• This timeline by Quanta Magazine traces humanity’s understanding of time throughout history.
• This Science Time video features Neil deGrasse Tyson discussing the possibility of time travel.

2. What is the difference between good and evil? What makes a person or being good? What makes a person or being evil?