Background. We recently reported how Darth Vader, the infamous and enigmatic villain from the Star WarsTM franchise, may be useful teaching tools for conveying physiological concepts to students, because he is likely to suffer from both obstructive and restrictive respiratory failure due to severe burns and thermal lung injury resulting from exposure to so-called pyroclastic density currents (1). He consequently requires treatment with continuous oxygen supplementation and positive airway pressures, which is provided by means of a whole-body armored suit that appears to function as an advanced bilevel positive airway pressure system (1). In the present study, we evaluated this teaching approach during a respiratory physiology course for medical students.Methods. Darth Vader was introduced as a case study in a class of 24 medical students. The students were encouraged develop a theory that could explain Darth Vader’s breathing problems and its putative treatment, by integrating the basic physiological concepts they would learn during the course. The theory should be prepared as a 10 minute talk that would be presented to the rest of the class during an interactive session in the final lesson of the course. Three weeks later, the students completed a multiple choice test relating to the core curriculum in respiratory physiology.Results. The students formed three groups that presented their theory during the interactive session. Apart from being entertaining to both students and evaluators, resulting in numerous applauds and cheers during the presentations, all groups appropriately integrated respiratory mechanics, ventilation-perfusion relationships, gas exchange, and acid-base regulation on a level that exceeded what was expected in the forthcoming exam. Test scores were highest in students that had presented a theory during the final lesson, second highest in the students that had listened to the presentations but not participated in the competition (Figure). Conclusion. Our findings demonstrate that using a case from popular culture a combined collaborative format is both feasible, entertaining, and educational, and furthermore stress the applicability of the “learning from learners” approach in physiology education.