I teach three classes at a state university, Photojournalism, Digital Photography, and 35mm B&W film Photography. In that B&W film photography class, we go over a quick dissect of the zone system. We dont need densitometers. I just have my students experiment with shooting one roll of B&W film, overexposing for the shadows in a scene with both dark shadow tones and bright highlights , and then I have them underdevelop that roll. They also have to shoot another roll at the "averaged" exposure their camera meters give them of the same scene and develop that roll normally.

They get to see the effects of this simple lesson into the zone system when they print these negatives in the darkroom and see the greater tonal range possible.

Cheers and best to you.

Adams base rule was: “Expose for the shadows; develop for the highlights.

Here is a more practical guide on how to actually shoot and develop film in the "zone system"
https://petapixel.com/how-to-use-the-zone-system/

In the simplest terms Adams and devotees of the zone system, would "overexpose" the film for the darkest shadow tones, and then "underdevelop" the film for the highlights. That gave you a much extended dynamic range retaining details in both the darkest shadows and highlights.

I have a couple of Adams prints made by his son from the original negatives, given to me as a wedding present in the 90"s. They have long outlasted that marriage, LOL

While a photo major at R.I.T. back in the seventies, we did some assignments working with the zone system.

The amazing dynamic range of modern digital camera sensors today, coupled with the abilities of modern photo editing software, make this all a lot simpler to realize.

Cheers and best to you all.