Classroom Resources

This video follows Joyce Poole and other scientists working in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, who made the observation that many female elephants lack tusks.

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.

This video follows ecologist Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, who is studying how elephants can communicate over long distances using low-frequency sounds that travel both in the air and through the ground.

This activity builds on information presented in the video Selection for Tuskless Elephants. Students use scientific evidence and reasoning to construct an explanation of and develop an argument for tusklessness in elephant populations.

In this activity, students use an interactive tool to simulate how scientists collected and used sample data to estimate elephant population sizes.

This video follows the work of scientists conducting the first census of African savanna elephants in over 40 years and the methods they are using to obtain accurate, up-to-date numbers across the continent.

This video follows scientists working in Gorongosa National Park as they try to determine the genes responsible for tusk development in elephants.

This activity explores images of elephants with and without tusks, which serve as phenomena for learning about selection and human impacts on the frequency of traits within populations.

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study involving illegal elephant poaching. In this study, scientists used DNA profiling to determine where ivory seized from poachers had originated.

In this activity, students work with authentic research data to explore the impact of poaching on African elephants.

This video case study explores whether elephants can detect, interpret, and respond to signals delivered by underground vibrations.

This interactive module allows students to use DNA profiling and related biological concepts to solve two cases of elephant poaching.