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: Expressions and Equations, The Number System
CCSS.Math.Content.7.EE.B.4Use variables to represent quantities in a real-world or mathematical problem, and construct simple equations and inequalities to solve problems by reasoning about the quantities.
CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.1Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram.
CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.2Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division and of fractions to multiply and divide rational numbers.

2. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?
© Apisit Sriputtirut/Alamy
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 does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?
In English, it’s the Black Water Waterfall, presumed to be the largest in Thailand, beginning some 820 feet up the cliff. A common anglicized pronunciation of the falls in Thai is Nam Tok Thi Lo Su. It’s part of the Mae Klong River, and the falls portion runs through the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary on the western edge of Thailand near Myanmar.
The falls are most dynamic during the rainy season (June to November) when the volume of water is at its peak. However, the rainy season means most of the roads to the falls are closed, so hiking in or rafting down the river are the only ways to see this beautiful scene in person.
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 does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su? 1
Map Search
Find the location of the Thi Lo Su Waterfall 2
Web Search
What are the top five tallest waterfalls in the world? 3
What is the average height of the five tallest waterfalls in the world? 4
What is the tallest waterfall in the world? 5
Thinking
How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?
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 does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su? 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 does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su? 1
Map Search
Find the location of the Thi Lo Su Waterfall 2
Web Search
What are the top five tallest waterfalls in the world? 3
What is the average height of the five tallest waterfalls in the world? 4
What is the tallest waterfall in the world? 5
Thinking
How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?
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 does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a 1
Map Search
Find the location of the Thi Lo Su Waterfall
Using the “maps” link on the Bing search page, and the search term “Thi Lo Su Waterfall” find the location here:

8. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a 2
Web Search
What are the top five tallest waterfalls in the world?
(Possible query: “tallest waterfalls in the world”)
A number of lists with information including name, location, and height return with this search. The site Fact Monster ( lists the following as the top five tallest waterfalls in the world:
Name(s) (foreign) Location Source/River Feet Meters
Angel (Salto Angel) Canaima Nat'l Park, Venezuela upper trib. of Rio Caroni 3,
Tugela Natal Nat'l Park, South Africa Tugela River 3,
Utigord (Utigordsfoss) Norway glacier fed 2,
Monge (Mongefoss) Marstein, Norway Mongebeck 2,
Gocta Cataracts Chachapoyas, Peru 2,

9. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a 3
Web Search
What is the average height of the five tallest waterfalls in the world?
(Possible query: “tallest waterfalls in the world”)
Using the search from the previous question, the chart providing the heights of the tallest waterfalls in the world can be used to find the average of these five waterfalls:
Name(s) (foreign) Location Source/River Feet Meters
Angel (Salto Angel) Canaima Nat'l Park, Venezuela upper trib. of Rio Caroni 3,
Tugela Natal Nat'l Park, South Africa Tugela River 3,
Utigord (Utigordsfoss) Norway glacier fed 2,
Monge (Mongefoss) Marstein, Norway Mongebeck 2,
Gocta Cataracts Chachapoyas, Peru 2,
Adding: = 14019
14019/5 = ft

10. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a 4
Web Search
What is the tallest waterfall in the world?
(Possible query: “tallest waterfalls in the world”)
As with the previous questions, this group can use the search to find the chart that indicates the tallest waterfall as follows (
Name(s) (foreign) Location Source/River Feet Meters
Angel (Salto Angel) Canaima Nat'l Park, Venezuela upper trib. of Rio Caroni 3,

11. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a 5
Thinking
How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?
(Possible query: “tallest waterfalls in the world”)
As with the previous questions, this group can use the search to find the chart that indicates the tallest waterfall as follows (
Name(s) (foreign) Location Source/River Feet Meters
Angel (Salto Angel) Canaima Nat'l Park, Venezuela upper trib. of Rio Caroni 3,
The key words in the question (“How much taller….than”) indicates that subtraction is required. We’ll subtract the height of the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su (820 ft) from the height of the Salto Angel (3212), the tallest waterfall in the world:
3212 – 820 = 2392 ft - (how many feet higher (in feet) is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su)

12. How does the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su waterfall compare the tallest waterfalls in the world? How much taller is the tallest waterfall in the world than the Nam Tok Thi Lo Su?a
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.