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Learning from Animals

Provided by: This Teenage Life |Published on: June 9, 2025

Podcasts

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Synopsis

This 13-minute podcast from This Teenage Life features young people talking about the lessons they have learned from animals about compassion, joy, and harmony with nature.
Students will also hear from Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson about their work with turtles and the lessons they have learned from them about time and connecting with nature.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, English Language Arts

Authors: This Teenage Life

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

This podcast features the voices of young people and their experiences.
This podcast highlights moments of joy and kindness in a world that can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Prerequisites

Students can take time to look up Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson before listening so they know whose voices they are hearing.
The link in the description of the podcast to Matt's drawings of turtles is broken. You can find his website here.
Hearing about harm to animals can bring up strong emotions for some students.

Differentiation & Implementation

Expand on SEL conversations around climate emotions with the following activity.
Continue to discuss environmental justice themes with students using this lesson.
Students can share with the class lessons they have learned from animals they love.
This podcast can be used in a science class to introduce a unit on human impacts on the environment.
In a biology class, this podcast could be used to discuss behavior in a unit on evolution and natural selection.
Students in an English class could use this podcast to practice listening skills.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

Related Teaching Resources

All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.