Impact of Teaching Nutritional Biochemistry Concepts Using Pop Culture: Why Zombies Crave Brains

In recent years, the allure of zombie culture has found its way into innovative teaching of biology and medical courses. In this current example, we employ zombie imagery and context to facilitate an understanding of applied nutritional biochemistry. This novel approach is compared to teaching identical material using traditional examples and context. Specifically, we investigated the impact on short-term and long-term learning by incorporating zombie lore into the delivery of a lecture on the inflammatory cascade as it relates to essential fatty acids. We hypothesized that given the popularity of zombies and dystopian/apocalyptic environments, intertwining nutritional concepts with these dramatic scenarios would enhance interest and attention, hence improving learning. Two presentations were offered in basic nutrition (synchronous) or introductory anatomy and physiology (asynchronous). This audience was selected to ensure minimal baseline knowledge on the topic of essential fatty acids. Half of the students received a non-zombie lecture while half received the same information as it relates to zombies. Learning was assessed using a five-question survey. Testing was conducted before, immediately following, and 4 weeks after the lecture. The mean score increase pre- versus post-test in both groups was dramatic but not significantly different between groups (zombie vs non-zombie and synchronous vs asynchronous). Results were as follows: the pre-test average for both groups was 42.37%; the immediate post-test average was 85.96%. At 4 weeks, the average performance dropped to 70.30%. On average, students indicated a mild interest in zombies. In this instance, teaching with pop culture did not significantly impact short-term or long-term retention.