The Kirby-Bauer method is regularly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, and is often employed in the classroom for teaching this concept. In this exercise, additional materials and instructions were given to students for the preparation of garlic extract and loading on blank BBL paper discs. They were further instructed to test the efficacy of the extract as compared with conventional antibiotics against "Escherichia coli", "Staphylococcus aureus" and "Klebsiella pneumoniae". The conventional antibiotics used were kanamycin, novobiocin, neomycin, erythromycin and tetracycline on BBL paper discs. After 48 hours of incubation, students measured the diameters of inhibition zones. Garlic was rated as being equal to, or less in inhibition than the antibiotics. A survey administered after the exercise showed that students gained a better awareness of garlic extracts potency as an antimicrobial agent. Students also became enthusiastic about searching for additional sources of antimicrobial substances to in light of antibiotic resistance. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)