Captivating classroom: Zombie biology

How does a biology professor get his creative writing fix? Merge the course material with a sci-fi storyline about a post-apocalyptic world of zombies to teach students biology concepts, of course. This is what Dr. Richard Bennett, associate professor of biology, began doing last year for his Principles of Biology class. "It serves as a creative outlet for me," Bennett said. "I like writing and this approach gives me a way to satisfy my desire to write stories, but not take away from my duties as a professor."

Students follow in the steps of a young man named Carl Phillips, a bright student who aced his biology courses and is new in the science field. He works with the International Network to Eliminate Zombies (INEZ) group after a secret government-run lab's experiments go awry and an infected rat bites a human, changing him into a flesh-eating zombie. Students spend their lab time following in the footsteps of the characters, running a series of tests on "zombie" cells, studying the proteins carried in the virus and discovering the biochemical components of the body fluids of infected individuals.

Before each lab, students are given another chapter in the story. "I realized the zombie world provided an environment in which students were forced to think about the science behind the questions," said Bennett. "They can't do a Google search and find the information they need to answer a question, because it's in a fictional world. So students have no other option than to actually think about the science."

Students often become so wrapped up in characters; they ask Bennett what became of them after their assignments were completed. "I'm thinking about writing an epilogue that the students can take with them after the final exam as a way to clean up the story," Bennett said.

Bennett said the story approach has made students feel more comfortable about coming to him with questions or concerns. "After all, how bad can a professor be if he writes about zombies in his class, right?"