About This Episode

Season 8. Episode 5.

What happens when some of the most meaningful learning takes place outside the traditional classroom? At The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, teenagers are gaining hands-on experience with wildlife while developing skills and perspectives that can shape who they become.

Dr. Anna Young, Vice President of Learning and Impact, joins Education Insight to take us inside the ZooTeens program and explore what makes this approach to learning so unique. From working with animals and discovering potential career paths to building confidence, compassion, and real-world skills, the conversation examines how experiences beyond the classroom can play an important role in a young person’s education. We also explore what other schools and institutions might learn from programs like ZooTeens and why investing in these opportunities matters.

Featured Guests

Dr. Anna Young

Vice President of Learning and Impact, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Biography

Dr. Anna Young is the Vice President of Learning and Impact at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. She started her zoo path as a teen volunteer and then as an educator at Reid Park Zoo, and she went on to become a zookeeper at the Phoenix Zoo. As an undergraduate researcher at the University of Arizona, she worked with Alex the African grey parrot in Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s lab. Dr. Young received her Ph.D. in Biology, with a focus on Animal Behavior from New Mexico State University. She was a tenured professor at Otterbein University in Ohio, and Director of the Zoo and Conservation Science Program for nearly a decade. Dr. Young’s research has focused on vocal learning and social behavior in parrots, in both budgerigars in human care and in fieldwork in South Africa on the threatened Cape parrot. Dr. Young currently studies the science of teaching and learning in STEM fields and applies theory to practice in making conservation action relevant and achievable for all. She has published over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals including Science, and she received a Career Award from the Animal Behavior Society in 2020.