In the spring of 2025, the Marion High School science department had an idea. How can we teach science through a different lens? Unconventionally, the idea of zombies came about. “Zombies are a fan favorite, pop culture scenario, and something we realized we could cover a lot of topics with,” science teacher Ryley Robinson, co-creator of Zombie Apocalypse, along with teacher Amy Tursi, said. Mr. Robinson began teaching Zombie Apocalypse, or “Zombie”, as most students call it, in the fall of 2025.
Although seemingly odd from the outside looking in, this course has become a student favorite, one in which major scientific skills and ideas are proposed and studied. Throughout the course of the term, students are asked to complete several science-related tasks in order to stave off the “impending apocalypse”. Junior Starla Rubalcava stated, “At first, you may think that a class about a zombie apocalypse sounds ridiculous; however, it's actually pretty interesting. This class really gets me thinking about all the things I take for granted in my daily life, and it makes me question my own morality and the things that matter to me. This class really makes me wonder, what would I do in the event of an apocalypse?” Units included in the course are centered around survival skills such as using 3D designing software to create shelters, learning about growing zones where wild food sources would grow, studying pandemic science, learning Morse code, and framing the students’ ethical and moral compasses to study how severe traumas impact their mental and physical health.
When asked which types of science are studied, Mr. Robinson stated, “I think we lean more into the biological and environmental side of science. When I first started teaching it, we were just kind of coming up with [the course] and adapting on the fly. Now, Mrs. Tursi and I think we have created a pretty well-rounded class where, yes, we are looking at biology and environmental science, but we are also looking at physics with Morse code and shelter creation and chemistry with wild edibles.”
So, just in case a zombie apocalypse actually does occur in Marion, Iowa, in the near future… we know of a handful of young people who will have been given the skills needed to survive and, hopefully, help us all.