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.6.1Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.3Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

2. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in?
© Rob Sturman/Corbis
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. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in?
There’s a trick to recognizing various species of frogs. And that trick is to get a zoology degree with a concentration in herpetology, then spend years in the field learning to spot, categorize, and identify a given species.
In terms of natural habitat, this amphibian could be a southern brown tree frog, a species found in and around Adelaide, Australia, where the photo was taken. (Some brown tree frogs are mostly green.)
But to us, it more closely resembles the magnificent tree frog, or the Australian green tree frog. Neither of those is native to the Adelaide region, but the Aussie green has been introduced in non-native environments. Could that be our guy?
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. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 1
Web Search/
Thinking
What is an expert? 2
What are some things people do in order to become experts? 3
Web Search
What is a zoologist? Where do zoologists apply their knowledge? 4
How long does it take to become a zoologist? What type of training would you need? 5
Thinking/
What is something that you would like to become an expert in? What would you need to do into order to achieve this (training, education, etc.)?
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. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 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. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 1
Web Search/
Thinking
What is an expert? 2
What are some things people do in order to become experts? 3
Web Search
What is a zoologist? Where do zoologists apply their knowledge? 4
How long does it take to become a zoologist? What type of training would you need? 5
Thinking/
What is something that you would like to become an expert in? What would you need to do into order to achieve this (training, education, etc.)?
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. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 1
Web Search/
Thinking
What is an expert?
Students may discuss their understanding of what an expert is and may access a definition by searching Bing for “define expert”:
From a Bing search:
Bing Dictionary
ex·pert
somebody skilled or knowledgeable: somebody with a great deal of knowledge about, or skill, training, or experience in, a particular field or activity

8. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 2
Thinking
What are some things people do in order to become experts?
Students may discuss the activities and training required to become an expert in any field or topic. Students may include schooling, studying under someone who is already an expert, reading independently, etc.

9. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 3
Web Search
What is a zoologist? Where do zoologists apply their knowledge?
(Possible queries: “what is a zoologist” “where do zoologists work”)
Search results include a standard definition that will show from the Bing Dictionary, as well as a more detailed summary from sites like Wise Geek (
From Bing search:
Bing Dictionary
zo·ol·o·gy
[ zō ólləjee ]
scientific study of animals: the branch of biology that involves the scientific study of animals and all aspects of animal life
In terms of where zoologist apply their knowledge, and where they can work, from Wise Geek:
Some zoologists work at zoos, participating in direct care of animals, observing them, or working as wildlife educators who develop educational materials and programs for zoo staff or for people who visit zoos. Others work overseeing wildlife reserves. They might study there and work on counting animal populations or studying the behavior of animals, and others might study animals in less protected areas.
Individuals in this profession do not necessarily work in the field. Many work in lab-based environments, studying specific biological aspects of animals, or they might work as professors teaching the subject. Zoology can be very specific, and some of these scientists may devote their lifetimes to the study of a single species, or work can be more generalized.

10. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 4
Web Search
How long does it take to become a zoologist? What type of training would you need?
(Possible queries: “how to become a zoologist” “what is a zoologist” “training for a zoologist”)
The site Wise Geek ( also provides information on the education and training needed in order to become a zoologist:
A zoologist is a person who usually at minimum holds an undergraduate degree in biology or zoology, and may hold graduate degrees in zoology. A few have field training only and don’t hold degrees of any kind. Zoology is a branch of biology, a life science that focuses on the study of animals, in a variety of different ways. What a person in this profession does largely depends upon how he or she plans to specialize. There are many diverse jobs in this field.

11. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in? 5
Thinking/
Web Search
What is something that you would like to become an expert in? What would you need to do into order to achieve this (training, education, etc.)?
Students can share their interests and perform searches on “how to become_____” or “how to learn ______”, inserting the field, profession, or topic they would want to become an expert in.

12. How long would it take to become an expert that could recognize this frog? What would you like to become an expert in?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.