Zombies & STEM: Coming to a Classroom Near You

Photo courtesy of STEM Behind Hollywood

When all else fails, turn to the undead, right? For many teachers trying to boost student interest in STEM, that's exactly right. Thanks to a new program created by the National Academy of Science and Texas Instruments, teachers now have STEM lessons based on zombies, superheroes, space and forensics to present to their middle and high school students. It looks like the undead could be exactly what the suffering subjects need to bring them back to life.

I know what you're thinking: the concept is too far-fetched to work. Maybe not. STEM Behind Hollywood begins their four-part activity with zombies and a hypothetical virus infecting humans. As reported in Forbes last week, in the part of the activity, students can observe a zombie's behavior and deduce that something is wrong with the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls walking. From there, they can work to understand how a healthy brain works and reverse engineer a zombie brain.

STEM Behind Hollywood is hoping for what all STEM initiatives have hoped for in recent years: a boost in curiosity and excitement about STEM careers. The Department of Labor estimates a 17 percent jump in these fields by 2018, so the fact that teen interest among them is declining is hard to hear.

Nonetheless, the new program seems to be staggering in the right direction. STEM Behind Hollywood is available to teachers and students on a free TI-Nspire software trial, but those who purchased the graphing calculator get the software included at no extra charge. There's also an iPad app.

After going live on Aug. 8, the program has already seen 2,300 downloads and the zombie program is underway to go live later this fall with other developed themes. Texas Instruments is in works to extend the program through 2014.

To read more about the program, what else is our there like it and to see commentary from the president of Texas Instruments and educators implementing STEM Behind Hollywood in their classroom, check out Emily Canal's full report.