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 Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W E Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

2. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?
© David Hellard/Rex Features
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. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?
The Amargosa mountains mark the eastern edge of Death Valley National Park. Here, sunrise washes the hills with purple light. By afternoon, the sun will bake the park, which consistently reaches triple digits on the Fahrenheit scale, even in September.
But even with the ominous name, Death Valley is a vibrant wilderness that challenges our expectations of what “wilderness” means. That’s why it’s part of the lands protected by the Wilderness Act of 1964, which was signed into law 50 years ago today.
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. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?1
Web Search
How is “Wilderness” defined legally, according to the Wilderness Act of 1964? 2
Image Search
Look at a variety of pictures of Death Valley and give a description of the terrain. 3
List and describe the various forms of animal life found in Death Valley. 4
Describe the various forms of plant life in Death Valley. 5
What are the ecological benefits of protecting various wilderness areas?
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. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?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. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?1
Web Search
How is “Wilderness” defined legally, according to the Wilderness Act of 1964? 2
Image Search
Look at a variety of pictures of Death Valley and give a description of the terrain. 3
List and describe the various forms of animal life found in Death Valley. 4
Describe the various forms of plant life in Death Valley. 5
What are the ecological benefits of protecting various wilderness areas?
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. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?1
Web Search
How is “Wilderness” defined legally, according to the Wilderness Act of 1964?
(Possible Search Queries: “Wilderness Act of 1964 Definition” )
Sources
Wilderness.net:
Wikipedia:
Students should note that key aspects of this legal definition include: Area untrammeled by human beings, a place where humans visit but do not reside and that are void of any permanent improvements on the part of humanity. The terrain should retain its primeval and natural character.

8. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?2
Image Search
Look at a variety of pictures of Death Valley and give a description of the terrain.
(Possible Search Queries: “Death Valley National Park” )
Sources
Bing Image Search:
Students should note a variety of mesa rock formations along with dessert terrain and vegetation.

9. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?3
Web Search
List and describe the various forms of animal life found in Death Valley.
(Possible Search Queries: “Death Valley Animal Life,” “Death Valley National Park Wildlife”)
Sources:
Digital Desert:
Students should note the variety of different animals found in the area including: Big Horn Sheep, Kit Fox, Coyote, Kangaroo Rat, Roadrunner, Raven, Horned Lizard, Scorpion and Tarantula.

10. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?4
Web Search
Describe the various forms of plant life in Death Valley.
(Possible Search Queries: “Death Valley National Park Plant Life,” “Death Valley Vegetation” )
Sources
Britanica.com:
Digital Desert:
Wikipedia:
Students should not the proliferance of salt-tolerant pickleweed and salt grass along with the presence of Creosote bush. Also, students should note that Cactus is rare in the lower elevations but rather prominent in the higher elevations.

11. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?5
Web Search
What are the ecological benefits of protecting various wilderness areas?
(Possible Search Queries: “Ecological Benefits of protecting wilderness,” “Benefits of the WIlderness Act,” )
Sources
WIlderness.org:
National Atlas:
Wikipedia:
Wilderness.net:
Students should note that wilderness areas serve a variety of ecological function including: air and water filtration, climate regulation and the maintenance of indigenous wildlife and biological diversity.

12. Should Death Valley be a protected wilderness? Why or Why Not?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.