Teacher Guide This lesson is designed to teach kids to ask a critical thinking question that you can’t just put into a search box to solve. To do that, we encourage them with smaller questions that search can help them answer. Make sure that you read the notes for each slide: they not only give you teaching tips but also provide answers and hints so you can help the kids if they are having trouble. Remember, you can always send feedback to the Bing in the Classroom team at BingInTheClassroom@Microsoft.com. You can learn more about the program at bing.com/classroom and follow the daily lessons on our Partners In Learning site. Want to extend today’s lesson? Consider using Skype in the Classroom to arrange for your class to chat with another class in today’s location. And if you are using Windows 8, you can also use the Bing apps to learn more about this location and topic; the Travel and News apps in particular make great teaching tools. Nell Bang-Jensen is a teacher and theater artist living in Philadelphia, PA. Her passion for arts education has led her to a variety of roles including developing curriculum for Philadelphia Young Playwrights and teaching at numerous theaters and schools around the city. She works with playwrights from ages four to ninety on developing new work and is especially interested in alternative literacies and theater for social change. A graduate of Swarthmore College, she currently works in the Artistic Department of the Wilma Theater and, in addition to teaching, is a freelance actor and dramaturg. In 2011, Nell was named a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and spent her fellowship year traveling to seven countries studying how people get their names. This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: Reading: Informational Text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? © Mammoth HD Having this up as kids come in is a great settle down activity. You can start class by asking them for thoughts about the picture or about ideas on how they could solve the question of the day.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? Indonesia’s many reefs teem with sea life, making for some of the world’s best dive spots. The waters of Komodo National Park are particularly fecund and attract divers from the world over. Be aware, though, that when you come ashore to the park’s titular island, it shares a name with the massive (and dangerous) lizards that call the place home. Depending on time, you can either have students read this silently to themselves, have one of them read out loud, or read it out loud yourself.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 1 Web Search How big is the Komodo Dragon compared to other lizards? 2 Map Search Where do Komodo Dragons live? How might this information relate to their large size? 3 What is “island gigantism”? How might this connect to why Komodo Dragons are so large? 4 What animals do scientists think Komodo Dragons evolved from? How might this help explain why they are so large? 5 Some scientists believe Komodo Dragons are so big because of their low metabolic rate. What is metabolism and what does a low metabolic rate mean? There are a couple of ways to use this slide, depending on how much technology you have in your classroom. You can have students find answers on their own, divide them into teams to have them do all the questions competitively, or have each team find the answer to a different question and then come back together. If you’re doing teams, it is often wise to assign them roles (one person typing, one person who is in charge of sharing back the answer, etc.)

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 5 Minutes You can adjust this based on how much time you want to give kids. If a group isn’t able to answer in 5 minutes, you can give them the opportunity to update at the end of class or extend time.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 1 Web Search How big is the Komodo Dragon compared to other lizards? 2 Map Search Where do Komodo Dragons live? How might this information relate to their large size? 3 What is “island gigantism”? How might this connect to why Komodo Dragons are so large? 4 What animals do scientists think Komodo Dragons evolved from? How might this help explain why they are so large? 5 Some scientists believe Komodo Dragons are so big because of their low metabolic rate. What is metabolism and what does a low metabolic rate mean? You can ask the students verbally or let one of them come up and insert the answer or show how they got it. This way, you also have a record that you can keep as a class and share with parents, others.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 1 Web Search How big is the Komodo Dragon compared to other lizards? (Possible queries: “size of Komodo Dragon”, “how big are Komodo Dragons?” , “how big are most lizards?”, “average lizard size”). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_Dragon and http://www.cyberlizard.plus.com/lizards_sizes.htm: Komodo Dragons are the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 metres (10 ft) in rare cases and weighing up to approximately 70 kilograms (150 lb). By comparison, small lizards can be considered as those which are under a foot (12" or 30 cm) in length. Medium-sized lizards here are considered as those over a foot (12"/30cm) in length but under 36" in total snout-tail length. In other words, Komodo Dragons are more than double the size of most other lizards.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 2 Map Search Where do Komodo Dragons live? How might this information relate to their large size? (Possible queries: “where do Komodo Dragons live?” “Bing/Maps: Komodo, Indonesia”, “Bing/Maps: Indonesia”). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_Dragon: Komodo Dragons are found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Padar. Students should look these islands up on a map, such as the one found here: http://www.bing.com/maps/?FORM=Z9LH2#Y3A9MzkuOTUyOTk5fi03NS4xNzU1OTgmbHZsPTQmc3R5PXImcT1rb21vZG8=. Students should then think about how being on these islands may be connected to how large the Komodo Dragons are. They might think about how an island is in isolation, so these lizards may not have to worry about certain predators as much as if they lived on a mainland. Students should also consider that an island’s ecosystem, developed in isolation, may be very particular to the needs of the animals who live there and make the Komodo Dragon very unusual in comparison to other reptiles.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 3 Web Search What is “island gigantism”? How might this connect to why Komodo Dragons are so large? (Possible queries: “what is island gigantism?”, “Komodo Dragons and island gigantism”). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_Dragon and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_gigantism: The Komodo Dragons’ unusually large size has been attributed to island gigantism, since no other carnivorous animals fill the niche on the islands where they live. Island gigantism or insular gigantism is a biological phenomenon in which the size of animals isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to their mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general “island rule”, which posits that when mainland animals colonize islands, small species tend to evolve larger bodies, and large species tend to evolve smaller bodies. Large mammalian carnivores are often absent on islands because of insufficient range or difficulties in over-water dispersal. In their absence, the ecological niches for large predators may be occupied by birds or reptiles, which can then grow to larger-than-normal size.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 4 Web Search What animals do scientists think Komodo Dragons evolved from? How might this help explain why they are so large? (Possible queries: “why are Komodo Dragons so large?”, “where did Komodo Dragons come from?”, “evolution of Komodo Dragons”). The evolutionary development of the Komodo dragon started with the Varanus genus, which originated in Asia about 40 million years ago and migrated to Australia. Around 15 million years ago, a collision between Australia and Southeast Asia allowed the varanids to move into what is now the Indonesian archipelago, extending their range as far east as the island of Timor. The Komodo dragon was believed to have differentiated from its Australian ancestors 4 million years ago. However, recent fossil evidence from Queensland suggests the Komodo dragon evolved in Australia before spreading to Indonesia. Dramatic lowering of sea level during the last glacial period uncovered extensive stretches of continental shelf that the Komodo dragon colonized, becoming isolated in their present island range as sea levels rose afterwards. and Recent research suggests the large size of Komodo dragons may be understood as representative of a relict population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia, most of which, along with other megafauna, died out after the Pleistocene. In other words, ancestors of the Komodo Dragon have been around Indonesia and Australia for millions of years, almost since the time of the dinosaurs! Tracing the Komodo Dragons’ evolutionary history from very large varanid lizards may help explain why they are so large today.

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? 5 Web Search Some scientists believe Komodo Dragons are so big because of their low metabolic rate. What is metabolism and what does a low metabolic rate mean? (Possible queries: “Komodo Dragon, low metabolic rate”, “what is a low metabolic rate?”, “understanding metabolism for kids”). From http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/metabolism.html: Our bodies get the energy they need from food through metabolism, the chemical reactions in the body's cells that convert the fuel from food into the energy needed to do everything from moving to thinking to growing. With a basic understanding of metabolism, students should make the connection that a low metabolic rate (such as the Komodo Dragons’) may be a cause of their large size. Students should understand metabolic rate as the speed at which our bodies convert food to energy to perform basic functions. If there is a low metabolic rate, this would mean the energy is converted at a slower speed, and rather than being used right away, the energy of the food would increase body mass (such as in the large Komodo Dragons).

The Komodo Dragons that live in this park are some of the largest lizards in the world. How do scientists explain their huge size and which theory do you think is most likely? This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question. Students should pull together what they have learned about the Komodo Dragon’s low metabolic rate, evolutionary history as ancestors of lizards that lived millions of years ago, and the concept of island gigantism to think about which seems like the most likely explanation for the Komodo Dragons’ large size. They should also be open to the possibility that their large size is due to a combination of these factors, and listen to the answers and arguments of others to make their case. Answers will vary.