Biology  by Bradford
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Free · Biology · Unit 5

Cell division and genetics escape room

The Mountain Seed Vault

A rockfall has cut the power to a seed vault buried deep inside a mountain, and your team is locked in with millions of frozen seeds from the world's crops. The backup computer will only open each door for people who understand how cells divide and how traits pass from parents to offspring. Five locks stand between you and the exit. Each lock asks four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Work fast: the cooling is failing, the lights are flickering, and once the vault warms up, seeds that took centuries of farming to breed will start to die.

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
  • Forgrade 9 and 10 biology and pre-AP classes
  • Play linkbiologybybradford.com/escape/gb5

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

    Entrance Tunnel

    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

    Cold Store Door

    Patterns Easy

    Find the missing number. Your digit is its last digit (47 gives 7).

  3. Lock 3 · Apply

    Sorting Room

    Petri dishes Medium

    Count only the solid colonies. Ignore the rings.

  4. Lock 4 · Analyse data

    Records Office

    Overlay Medium

    Only segments lit on BOTH panels count. Read the number they make.

  5. Lock 5 · Evaluate

    Blast Door

    Logic clues Hard

    A, B, C and D are four different digits. Some clues only compare them, so test the possibilities.

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. In which stage of mitosis do the chromosomes line up along the middle of the cell?

    1. A Prophase
    2. B Metaphase
    3. C Anaphase
    4. D Telophase

  2. Which pair of sex chromosomes does a typical human female have?

    1. A XX
    2. B XY
    3. C YY
    4. D X only

  3. What is the term for an organism with two identical alleles for a gene, such as AA or aa?

    1. A haploid
    2. B recessive
    3. C homozygous
    4. D heterozygous

  4. What is fertilization?

    1. A The splitting of one cell into two identical cells
    2. B The swapping of DNA between homologous chromosomes
    3. C The copying of DNA before a cell begins to divide
    4. D The joining of a sperm and an egg to form a zygote

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
= 3 = 6 = 8 = 2

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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