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.
Alice Keeler is a mother of 5 and a teacher in Fresno, California. She has her B.A in Mathematics, M.S. in Educational Media Design and Technology and is currently working on a doctorate in Educational Technology with an emphasis in games and simulations. EdTech speaker, blogger, and presenter. Founder of coffeeEDU, a 1 hour conference event for educators. New Media Consortium Horizon report advisory panel member. High school math teacher for 14 years. Currently teaching pre-service teachers curriculum, instruction and technology at California State University Fresno. Teaches online for Fresno Pacific University in the Masters in Educational Technology. Passionate that kids are not failures, researches gamification in education to increase student motivation.
This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: English Language Arts
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.

2. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.
© Nagesh Mahadev
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. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.
Deep in the wilds of the Yukon, in Canada, lies Tombstone Territorial Park. The park was so named because someone once thought Tombstone Mountain, seen here in the foreground, resembled a grave marker. Frankly, we don’t see it, but we’re guessing he may just have been awestruck by the mesmerizing power of the Northern Lights.
Though Tombstone Territorial Park has few hiking trails, especially in its outer backcountry, well-prepared visitors will enjoy the park’s gorgeous arctic tundra landscape. And of course, some nights, the sky can put on quite a show: The aurora borealis is easily visible this far north.
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. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.1
Video Search
Locate a video of the Northern Lights. 2
Locate a video of a scientist or reputable science group discussing the northern lights (aurora borealis). 3
Web Search
Explain the science behind the Northern Lights. Make reference to the scientific term aurora borealis. 4
Under what conditions are the Northern Lights visible? 5
Thinking
If you were to plan a trip to see the Northern Lights, where would you go and how would you ensure that you would be able to witness this phenomena?
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. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.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. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.1
Video Search
Locate a video of the Northern Lights. 2
Locate a video of a scientist or reputable science group discussing the northern lights (aurora borealis). 3
Web Search
Explain the science behind the Northern Lights. Make reference to the scientific term aurora borealis. 4
Under what conditions are the Northern Lights visible? 5
Thinking
If you were to plan a trip to see the Northern Lights, where would you go and how would you ensure that you would be able to witness this phenomena?
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. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.1
Video Search
Locate a video of the Northern Lights.
(Possible Search Query: “northern lights”)
Sources

8. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.2
Video Search
Locate a video of a scientist or reputable science group discussing the northern lights (aurora borealis).
(Possible Search Queries: “scientist northern lights”, “scientist aurora borealis”)
Sources
Nasa -
Solar scientist Dr Lucie Green -
Nasa connect -

9. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.3
Web Search
Explain the science behind the Northern Lights. Make reference to the scientific term aurora borealis.
(Possible Search Queries: “science aurora borealis”, “science northern lights”)
Sources
National Geographic -
Nasa -
The sun and the earth are both giant magnets. The sun shoots out giant flares of plasma towards the earth. Once the electrons meet the earths magnetic pole on the day side they are deflected and out past the earth and then pushes in again by the pole at the night side. During this process some of the charged particles enter the upper atmosphere over the polar regions and react with the earths oxygen and nitrogen to produce the magnificent colors in the sky. The light can be 600 miles high and thousands of miles long.

10. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.4
Web Search
Under what conditions are the Northern Lights visible?
(Possible Search Query: “northern lights visible”)
Sources
Nasa -
Tromsø Geophysical Observatory - University of Tromsø -
The aurora lies well above the highest clouds, so we need clear skies to be able to see it.
The aurora is much higher than the highest clouds . This means that clear skies are one of the most important conditions needed to be able to see the Northern Lights is a clear sky.
Another important condition to be able to see the Northern lights is to have little light from other sources. A clear dark sky is important so getting as far away from the city lights is extremely helpful especially in regions farther away from the poles.

11. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.5
Thinking
If you were to plan a trip to see the Northern Lights, where would you go and how would you ensure that you would be able to witness this phenomena?
Students answers may vary. Students may include that out of Northern Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden and Norway), Iceland, Southern Greenland, Northern Siberia, Alaska and Northern Canada. They might also include that they might want to go somewhere far away from city lights so that it will not abrupt their view of the lights. The best time to go is during the winter when the nights are long and dark perfect for seeing the beautiful lights.

12. Describe the phenomena known as the northern lights.
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.