Biology  by Bradford
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Free · Biology · Unit 6

Evolution and classification escape room

The Midnight Fossil Hall

A storm has knocked out the power at the city's natural history museum, and your team is locked in the fossil hall after closing time. The museum's backup security system will only open each door for visitors who can prove they understand how life evolved and how scientists sort it into groups. Five locks stand between you and the street. Each lock asks four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Hurry: rainwater is pouring into the basement archive, and a century of rare specimens will be ruined if you cannot reach the pumps before morning.

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/gb6

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

    Ticket Hall Turnstile

    Bar chart Easy

    Each letter is a bar. Read its height off the scale.

  2. Lock 2 · Understand

    Fossil Gallery Gate

    Pathway Easy

    Start at your letter and go straight down. Every time you meet a rung, cross it. Your digit is where you finish.

  3. Lock 3 · Apply

    Specimen Drawers

    Lock dials Medium

    The dials have no numbers. 0 is the pink notch at the top; count ticks clockwise to the needle.

  4. Lock 4 · Analyse data

    Archive Cabinet

    Petri dishes Medium

    Count only the solid colonies. Ignore the rings.

  5. Lock 5 · Evaluate

    Curator's Vault

    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. What is the name for an inherited feature that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment?

    1. A Adaptation
    2. B Mutation
    3. C Speciation
    4. D Extinction

  2. Which level of classification contains the greatest number of different kinds of organisms?

    1. A Kingdom
    2. B Domain
    3. C Genus
    4. D Species

  3. What is a fossil?

    1. A A rock that formed when lava from a volcano cooled very quickly
    2. B A living species that has not changed at all for millions of years
    3. C The preserved remains or traces of an organism that lived long ago
    4. D A mineral crystal that grows in the shape of a plant or an animal

  4. When the last member of a species dies, what has happened to that species?

    1. A It has formed a new species
    2. B It has become vestigial
    3. C It has been artificially selected
    4. D It has become extinct

Bar chart

Easy

Each letter is a bar. Read its height off the scale.

0123456789ABCD

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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