Topeka ? A Topeka college instructor lecturer is taking unusual steps to bring the distant past alive for today’s students.

Washburn University says students in Anthony Silvestri’s Medieval Experience course wear academic robes to class. They also welcome their teacher in Latin and prepare for the next meeting by reading from a hand-bound codex chained to a library table.

Silvestri says it’s all aimed at recreating the scholastic environment of the medieval period. Students debating whether it’s lawful to overthrow a king used scripture and the writings of ancient philosophers to make their cases.

He says an education article he read 10 years ago encouraged him to try the new approach. Although it’s more time- consuming, he says students will remember it “for the rest of their lives.”