1. 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 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.
Ja'Dell Davis is a Los Angeles native who currently lives in New York City. She works in the Youth Services Department at the Educational Alliance as the Assistant Director for Higher Education Initiatives, where she specifically oversees college prep programming for high school seniors, and academic enrichment programming for middle school students. Ja’Dell previously taught high school in Philadelphia public schools, and implemented college access programming at Chester High School in Chester, Pennsylvania. Ja’Dell received her B.A. from Swarthmore College with a special major in History and Educational Studies, and a minor in Black Studies. She completed her M.S.Ed in Secondary School Education at the University of Pennsylvania. This fall, she will begin her doctoral studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to her work in the education field, Ja’Dell is a dancer, musician, avid people watcher, and Scrabble enthusiast.
This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: Reading: Informational Text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

2. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?
© Domingo Leiva/Getty Images
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.

3. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?
It seems just about every sizeable city in Europe enjoyed a heyday as an economic powerhouse at some point in its history. Bruges’ time was the 12th through 15th centuries, when its coastal location and canal system made it one of the most important commercial centers of Europe.
Today, Bruges is one of Belgium’s biggest tourist destinations. The Renaissance-era architecture and canal system are still intact, adding much to the appeal for travelers interested in a slice of life from centuries past.
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.

4. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?1
Map Search
Where in the world is Bruges? 2
Web Search
What characterizes Renaissance architecture? 3
Image Search
Find images of Renaissance architecture. Have you seen buildings with similar architecture before? 4
What were the ideas of the Renaissance that influenced this time period and architecture? 5
Thinking
Why would new thoughts and ideas about the world influence the way people design buildings?
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.)

5. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?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.

6. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?1
Map Search
Where in the world is Bruges? 2
Web Search
What characterizes Renaissance architecture? 3
Image Search
Find images of Renaissance architecture. Have you seen buildings with similar architecture before? 4
What were the ideas of the Renaissance that influenced this time period and architecture? 5
Thinking
Why would new thoughts and ideas about the world influence the way people design buildings?
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.

7. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?1
Map Search
Where in the world is Bruges?
Using the “maps” link on the Bing search page, and the search term “Bruges”, find the location here:

8. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?2
Web Search
What characterizes Renaissance architecture?
(Possible query: “renaissance architecture”)
An About.com article ( on Renaissance architecture provides a summery of this period of thought and the architecture it influenced:
Between 1400 to 1600 AD, a return to classical ideas ushered an "age of "awakening" in Italy and northern Europe. This period is known as the Renaissance, which means born anew in French.
Before the dawn of the Renaissance, Europe was dominated by asymmetrical and ornate Gothic architecture. During the Renaissance, however, architects were inspired by the highly symmetrical and carefully proportioned buildings of Classical Greece and Rome.
Features of Renaissance Buildings:
Symmetrical arrangement of windows and doors
Extensive use of Classical columns and pilasters
Triangular pediments
Square lintels
Arches
Domes
Niches with sculptures

9. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?3
Image Search
Find images of Renaissance architecture. Have you seen buildings with similar architecture before?
Using the “images” link on the Bing search page, and the search term “Renaissance architecture”, find images here:

10. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?4
Web Search
What were the ideas of the Renaissance that influenced this time period and architecture?
(Possible queries: “ideas of the renaissance” ,“what is the renaissance”)
The site Italian Renaissance ( provides an overview of the basic ideas of the Renaissance:
What was the Renaissance?
The Renaissance was a period in which people started looking to the classical world (ancient Greece and Rome) with much admiration. When they looked at history, they considered the classical world to have been a time of greatness, and that the fall of the Roman Empire (c. 476 A.D.) led Europe into a period of decline which they called the “Dark Ages”. Beginning in the fifteenth century, many Italians thought that by reviving the ideas, art, and architecture from antiquity, they could bring about a “rebirth” of greatness in their own cities. The result was the Renaissance, which is a word which means “rebirth”.

11. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?5
Thinking
Why would new thoughts and ideas about the world influence the way people design buildings?
Students can reflect on how ideas and beliefs affect expressions through art, music, and design of the buildings and objects around us.

12. What is unique about the architecture preserved in Bruges today?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.