Biology  by Bradford
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Free · AP Biology · Unit 2

Cell Structure and Function escape room

The Cell Factory Lockdown

Your class is touring a biotech plant designed like a giant eukaryotic cell, with a nucleus-style control room, ER assembly lines and a Golgi shipping hall. Midway through the tour, a power surge triggers the containment protocol and every door seals. The only way out is through five security locks. Each lock asks four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Reopen the shipping route before the night shift arrives.

Play it onlineTeacher pack (PDF)
  • 5 locksfour multiple-choice questions at each, 20 in all
  • About 45 minutesfor a team of three or four
  • Online or on papera link to play, or the pack to print
  • ForAP Biology classes
  • Play linkbiologybybradford.com/escape/u2

The five locks

Each lock’s four answers are decoded with its puzzle into a four-digit combination, so one wrong answer keeps it shut. The questions climb from recall to evaluating evidence.
  1. Lock 1 · Recall

    Visitor Turnstile

    Symbol grid Easy

    Find the row for the question and the column for your answer. Swap the symbol for its number using the key.

  2. Lock 2 · Understand

    Assembly Line Gate

    Overlay Easy

    Imagine panel 1 laid on top of panel 2. Every lit segment counts. Read the number they make.

  3. Lock 3 · Apply

    Membrane Airlock

    Bar chart Medium

    Each letter is a bar. Only 0 and 5 are numbered, so count the lines.

  4. Lock 4 · Analyse data

    Shipping Dock Door

    Dice Medium

    Add all three dice beside your letter. A blank face counts as 0.

  5. Lock 5 · Evaluate

    Export Bay Exit

    Number pyramid Hard

    Each brick is the sum of the two below it. The clues are high up the pyramid, so work down carefully.

Lock 1, as a team sees it

The first four questions and their decoder. The answers, and the reason for each, are in the teacher pack.

  1. What term describes cells, such as bacteria, that lack a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles?

    1. A Eukaryotic
    2. B Multicellular
    3. C Prokaryotic
    4. D Autotrophic

  2. Which organelle produces most of a eukaryotic cell's ATP through cellular respiration?

    1. A Ribosome
    2. B Chloroplast
    3. C Golgi apparatus
    4. D Mitochondrion

  3. Which organelle is a membrane-bound sac of hydrolytic enzymes that digests worn-out parts and debris?

    1. A Golgi apparatus
    2. B Lysosome
    3. C Smooth ER
    4. D Vacuole

  4. What is the name for the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane?

    1. A Osmosis
    2. B Plasmolysis
    3. C Exocytosis
    4. D Active transport

Symbol grid

Easy

Find the row for the question and the column for your answer. Swap the symbol for its number using the key.

ABCD
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
= 5 = 0 = 6 = 4

Running it

  1. Online: send teams the play link. They answer a lock’s four questions, decode the letters and enter the combination; after lock 5 they get a completion code to show you. Nobody needs an account.
  2. On paper: sign in (free) and print the teacher pack: question cards, the five decoders, a guide and the answer key with a reason for every answer.
  3. Your version: Edit a copy from the library to change any question, then play and print it by its own code, or build a room from the topics your class has covered.

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