Throughlines

Here is information about through lines from the ALPS: Teaching for Understanding Website

Here are some sample throughlines:

MATH
 * What are the patterns?
 * How can we use what we know to figure out what we don't know?
 * How are percents used to describe real-world happenings?

SCIENCE:
 * How do parts of a system contribute to the over-all function of that system? (Jennifer Bundy)
 * How do living and non-living things experience cycles and/or change over time?
 * How can we use tools and observations to learn about________?
 * How do organisms survive and interact with other organisms in an environment?
 * How do scientists (or students) construct and test theories?

SOCIAL STUDIES:
 * What is culture? How does it develop? How and why do cultures change?
 * How do systems ensure the survival of the culture?
 * What does the culture honor and believe?
 * How do tools and technology evolve within a culture?
 * How does where your live affect how you live?
 * How do individuals impact, influence, or change a culture?
 * How and why do sub-cultures emerge and grow within the larger culture?
 * How does the economy affect culture?
 * How do various population shifts affect the environment and geography?
 * How does the historical past make us (or a civilization) who were are today?
 * Whose perspective is the story or account told from? What does this tell us about who wrote it?

LANGUAGE ARTS
 * Every person is on a personal journey. They learn, change, adapt, and grow.
 * What makes someone a "winner" in life?
 * How do people overcome difficulties?
 * Are there times when rules could or should be broken?
 * How does an author craft a story that connects and engages a reader?
 * How does an author use a character's experiences to inform, affect, and possbily change a reader? In what ways can a piece of writing influence and/or challenge a reader (belief system - what is right/wrong/uncertain)?
 * What qualities (dispositions) does a reader need to possess to become engaged, and to be informed, affected, and possibly changed as a reader?
 * How does a character's cultural background affect his/her decisions, reactions, and other interactions?
 * How does a character's experiences cause him/her to learn, adapt, and change?
 * What bigger story does this small story tell?
 * How does my understanding of metaphors shape the way I experience the world?
 * How do authors give clues (both obvious and subtle) about what their characters are like?