The Zombie Autopsies

"What happens biologically when a pathogen enters a population, and what responsibilities do scientists and societies have in responding to it?"

Welcome to the Novel Science series—curriculum unit frameworks designed to bridge literature, rigorous scientific inquiry, and social and environmental justice.

The Zombie Autopsies: Science, Pandemics & Humanity is a comprehensive, nine-week integrated unit framework that uses Dr. Steven Schlozman’s gripping medical novella to anchor authentic explorations of cell biology, viral replication, neuroscience, immunology, epidemiology, and public health equity. By following the diary and laboratory autopsies of Dr. Blum, high school students move beyond the fiction of the "zombie apocalypse" to investigate actual infectious disease mechanics, calculate the mathematical scale of outbreaks, and wrestle with the human rights implications of global crises.

What Makes This a "Unit Framework"?

This resource is not a scripted, one-size-fits-all lesson plan binder. I trust educators as the experts in their classrooms and communities.

This framework delivers the architectural blueprint, mathematical progressions, and pacing for your unit—the essential questions, laboratory and fieldwork concepts, epidemiological data tools, standards alignments, and project rubrics. You retain the autonomy to adapt daily activities, readings, and investigations to reflect your students' lived realities and local environments.

What’s Inside the 9-Week Arc?

Each week pairs specific chapters and appendices of The Zombie Autopsies with targeted NGSS, CCSS-Math, and CCSS-ELA standards, inquiry questions, and lab investigations:

• Week 1: What Is Alive? (Living vs. Nonliving, Pathology as Evidence, "Is It Alive?" Lab, Global Population Scale Calculations)

• Week 2: Bacteria, Viruses & Pathogens (Host Cells, Viral vs. Bacterial Infection, Comparative Pathogen Research, Infection Rate Math)

• Week 3: Cells, Replication & Exponential Growth (Mitosis, Viral Replication, Safe Transmission Lab Simulation, Linear vs. Exponential Growth Modeling)

• Week 4: From Epidemic to Pandemic (Epidemiology, 1918 Flu / Historical Case Studies, Historical Pandemic Data Analysis, Community Public-Health Infrastructure Audit)

• Week 5: The Brain & Behavior (Brain Anatomy & Functions, Nervous System, Controlled Reaction-Time Investigation, Statistical Mean/Spread Analysis)

• Week 6: Neurotransmitters & the Teenage Brain (Neurons, Neurotransmitters, Impulse Control & Risk/Reward, Stimulus-Response Modeling, Behavioral Variability Data)

• Week 7: Immunity, Ecology & Public Health (Immune & Autoimmune Responses, Host-Pathogen Ecology, School/Campus Environmental Microbial Swabbing, Health Disparities Data)

• Week 8: Who Is Human? (Medical Ethics, Personhood & "No Longer Human" Designations, Public Health Equity Analysis, Interdisciplinary Human Rights Argumentative Essay)

• Week 9: Synthesis & Culminating Treatment Challenge (The ANSD Treatment Challenge, Simulated WHO/CDC Review Panel, The Final "Zombie Autopsy" Evidence Audit)

Key Features Included:

• The Integrated Mathematics Progression: Seamlessly threads high school algebra and statistics through four developmental stages: Scale (global populations) ➡️ Rate (cases over time) ➡️ Growth (exponential disease modeling)➡️ Decision-Making (resource allocation).

• The Final "Zombie Autopsy" Audit: A recurring analytical framework where students classify claims into Scientifically Accurate, Scientifically Plausible, Contradicts Established Science, Mathematically Supported, or Ethically Complex.

• Community Place-Based Fieldwork: Includes practical protocols for both a campus-wide microbial investigation and a municipal Public Health & Infrastructure Audit examining local healthcare access and environmental risk.

• Culminating Performance Task (The ANSD Treatment Challenge): Student research teams design, mathematically model, and defend a multi-system biological treatment for the fictional pathogen, presenting their findings before a simulated WHO/CDC scientific review board.

• Complete Multi-Disciplinary Standards Alignment: Threaded alignments for NGSS Life Science and Engineering Design, CCSS High School Mathematics (Functions, Statistics & Probability, Quantities), and CCSS-ELA 9–10 reading, writing, and speaking standards.

What You Receive:

Upon purchase, you will receive a downloadable PDF containing direct access to the master Google Drive files. Simply make an editable copy directly to your own Drive to tailor, differentiate, and pace the framework according to your school calendar and classroom needs.