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Overview
The Arizona Department of Transportation believes that wildlife-vehicle collisions are a serious issue in Arizona. One main area of concern is Highway 260 east of Payson. This 18.5-mile stretch of highway cuts right through the middle of prime elk habitat but is also experiencing a significant increase in highway traffic. They would like to expand the highway from two lanes to four. However, they understand that this would add a significant amount of stress to elk and other animals that cross the road. As a result, they have asked the Arizona Game and Fish Department to study the effectiveness of wildlife underpasses or bridges along the road. In this unit, students have the opportunity to look at the data and make some important decisions for themselves.
Lesson Summaries
Although these lessons were designed as a unit, they can stand by themselves and be taught individually. However, some activities may require familiarity with concepts or skills that were taught in earlier lessons. Make sure to read through the lesson and determine what knowledge your students are expected to know before carrying it out with the students.
- Lesson 1 - Students
evaluate data regarding
usage and accident rates along State
Route 260 to determine if the problem of elk-vehicle collisions is
even significant
- Lesson 2 - Students research elk
movement throughout the region to
determine the best locations for three
underpasses and propose cheaper
alternatives to building underpasses
- Lesson 3 - Students design a research experiment to evaluate
the effectiveness of the underpasses
and asked to analyze real data in relation
to their research question
Suggested Grade Levels
7–10
Time Frame
6–7 days (45 minutes each day)
Enduring Understandings
After completing the activities contained in this unit, the student should
understand these basic concepts:
- Scientists often work in teams to solve problems.
- Accurate and reliable data needs to be analyzed impartially to develop conclusions.
- Technology has improved data collection for scientists.
Arizona Department of Education Standards
The lessons in this unit were designed to present an integrated approach to learning. Not only will the students be introduced to science concepts dealing specifically with data analysis, but they will also develop math and writing skills. Through the course of this unit, they will read nonfiction text, write a persuasive essay, write a scientific report, and use the Internet to perform research. Although each lesson includes the specific performance objectives achieved for each grade level, the following general concepts are covered:
| Subject |
Strand |
Lessons |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
| Science |
1 |
x |
x |
x |
| 2 |
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x |
| 3 |
x |
x |
x |
| 4 |
x |
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| 5 |
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| 6 |
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| Math |
1 |
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| 2 |
x |
x |
x |
| 3 |
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| 4 |
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| 5 |
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| Writing |
1 |
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| 2 |
x |
x |
x |
| 3 |
x |
x |
x |
Download This Unit
The lessons in this unit are available in a standard PDF form:
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Additional Elk Resources:
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