Analyzing Data on Tuskless Elephants

Resource Type
Description
This data-driven activity accompanies the video Selection for Tuskless Elephants. It engages students in analyzing data to make evidence-based claims about the occurrence of tusklessness in elephant populations.
By watching segments of this video, students will follow the analyses and discoveries of Joyce Poole, a scientist who has studied elephants for many years. Students will then analyze data to investigate the impact of human activity, namely poaching, on elephant populations.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Analyze quantitative data in order to make predictions based on evidence.
- Use evidence-based predictions to explain how a population changes over time due to human impacts.
- Explain how the selective pressures on a population may impact the frequencies of phenotypes.
- Propose a claim supported by scientific evidence to answer a research question.
- Determine whether scientific results confirm or contradict a hypothesis.
- Provide evidence-based reasoning that uses available data to support a scientific claim.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
adaptation, claim, evidence, frequency, phenotype, poaching, population, reasoning, selection, selective pressure, variation
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS4-2, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4, HS-LS4-5; SEP1, SEP5, SEP6
AP Biology (2019)
EVO-1.E, EVO-1.G, SYI-2.B, SYI-3.D; SP3, SP4, SP5, SP6
IB Biology (2016)
4.1, C.3
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 2.1, 2.6, 9.10
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-2.A, ERT-2.H, EIN-4.C, SP5, SP6
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.4
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.7, ELA.WHST.9-12.1
Math.N-Q.A.1, Math.N-Q.A.3, Math.S-IC.3; MP2, MP3
Vision and Change (2009)
CC1, CC5; DP1, DP2