In zombie movies, how do they make the living dead look so…well…undead? Only a select few of us have ever been to space, yet all of us have a pretty good idea of what it would feel like thanks to movies and shows that take us out of this world. What makes our superheroes so super? And how do they make crime scenes look eerily realistic in police dramas?
You can call it TV or movie magic, but as it turns out, those scenes on the small and silver screen depend on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to come to life. 
That’s why TI has launched “STEM Behind Hollywood,” an interactive education program developed with The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as with Emmy-nominated actress, neuroscientist and TI Ed Tech’s STEM education advocate Mayim Bialik.
Aimed at getting middle and high school students excited about STEM subjects and careers, “STEM Behind Hollywood” makes math and science come to life in a series of free online classroom activities that help teachers demonstrate the real-world concepts behind four popular Hollywood themes: zombies, space, superheroes and forensics.
“We are helping teachers draw young people into STEM by showing the ‘cool factor’ of real-life science and math behind the magic they see in movies and on TV,” said Melendy Lovett, president of Texas Instruments Education Technology.
Each activity can be downloaded to the TI-NspireTM CX graphing calculator, TI-NspireTM Student Software, TI-NspireTM Teacher Software or TI-Nspire™ Apps for iPad®. The activities were developed with the help of scientists and experts from The Science & Entertainment Exchange who consult on Hollywood films and TV shows to ensure the accuracy of science and mathematics depicted on screen.
“When entertainers have questions about anything from robotics to physics to genetics as they’re making feature films, TV shows and videogames, we’ll bring in field experts who can help them develop whole worlds, characters and stories with real science behind them,” said Rick Loverd, program director of The Science & Entertainment Exchange.
Mayim helps students make the connection between what they see on screen and real concepts that they explore in the activities.
In the first activity, “Zombies,” Mayim teams up with Steve Schlozman, MD, Harvard Medical School professor and renowned author of “The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse,” to help students explore several real-life scenarios of math and science – including what factors would impact the outbreak and spread of a “zombie pandemic” andwhat a “zombie brain” teaches about a real, healthy human brain’s functions.
“It’s important to know zombies aren’t real, but that doesn’t mean we can’t think out loud in the classroom about what makes them sick and have teachable moments with students on epidemiology and neurology,” said Steve. “This first activity takes scary, real-life scenarios like avian flu or Ebola outbreaks and turns it into something we can talk about and have some fun with, while still learning and exploring some very serious science concepts.”
So grab some popcorn and your TI-NspireTM CX graphing calculator or download one of the new TI-NspireTM Apps for iPad®, and get ready to learn about science, technology, engineering and math like a movie star.