People throughout Oxford and across southeastern Michigan were left confused last Tuesday night as a rumble shook the earth and a bright burst of light illuminated the sky around 8:10 p.m.

According to NASA officials, the likely cause of this incident was a bolide, which is a special type of meteor, which tends to be large and explodes into pieces as it hits the atmosphere. Its explosion often causes a bright flash.

The event caused a lot of stir at first, but later inspired some Oxford educators to use it as a “teachable moment” for their students.

Clear Lake Elementary third-grade teacher Kerry Gettler had her students focus on meteors during one of her classroom’s “Chalk Talks,” a classroom thinking routine.

“The classroom was buzzing with excitement about the meteor event,” said Gettler. “We learned about the size of most meteors, where they come from, what meteors are mostly made of, how fast they travel, how many meteors happen each year, and how many make it into scientists’ hands. It was a day that I will not soon forget, and I hope my students remember.”

This particular meteor was estimated by NASA officials to have had a 2-yard-diameter and to have been traveling at about 28,000 miles per hour as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

Its explosion triggered a magnitude 2.0 earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.