Biology  by Bradford
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IB Biology C2.2 Pub Quiz: Neural signalling

C2.2 as a pub quiz for your class: review rounds on this subtopic, mixed with pure-fun rounds so it feels like a night out and not another test. Opens at SL; switch to HL in the builder to add the higher level cards.

Print teacher pagesPrint student pagesOpen in the builder to change it

Teacher pages are the quizmaster script and tally sheet. Student pages are the team answer sheet, handout and picture sheet. Both open ready to print, on A4 or US Letter.

What it covers

IB Biology at SL, with HL cards when you switch the level: C2.2 Neural signalling.

The running order

nine rounds and a handout of riddles. Review rounds are drawn from this topic each time you open the quiz, so two classes never get the same paper, and every review round can be redrawn in a click.

  1. Riddle me this review
    Course terms as riddles: "I have a head that loves water and two tails that hate it…" Teams write what it is.
  2. Close-up fun
    A tiny zoomed-in patch. What's the full picture?
  3. Fact or fiction fun
    Myths and true-but-weird facts. Teams write Fact or Fiction.
  4. Think it through review
    Scenarios, odd ones out, true or false and why, puzzles: questions to reason through. Give teams a little longer.
  5. Films in science-speak fun
    A film plot, described like a research abstract. Name the film.
  6. Who am I? Scientists fun
    Three clues, hardest first. 3 points after clue 1, 2 after clue 2, 1 after clue 3.
  7. Missing vowels: course terms review
    Your key terms with the vowels taken out.
  8. Funny animal noises fun
    YouTube clips of animals making ridiculous noises. Screen off, listen, guess, then watch the reveal.
  9. Closest wins fun
    Estimation questions. Nearest team wins the point. Doubles as the tiebreaker.

A taste of the questions

Think it through

Scenarios, odd ones out and true or false and why, from IB Biology.

  1. Why is the inside of a resting neuron negative compared with the outside?
  2. I'm a neuron at rest, sending no impulses at all, yet I keep burning ATP. What am I spending it on?
  3. True or false, and why? A nerve impulse is electrical because electrons flow along the axon, as in a wire.
  4. A neuron running from your spinal cord to your big toe can be about a metre long. Which part of it makes up almost all of that length?
  5. Squid escape predators using giant axons up to 1 mm wide. Why are these axons so wide?
  6. A human axon only 20 µm wide conducts impulses faster than a squid's giant axon 1 mm wide. What does the human axon have that the squid's lacks?
Answers
  1. The pump moves 3 Na⁺ out for every 2 K⁺ in, and K⁺ leaks back out
  2. Pumping Na⁺ out and K⁺ in, to keep the resting potential
  3. False (it is electrical because positive ions such as Na⁺ and K⁺ move across the membrane)
  4. The axon (one long fibre)
  5. Wider axons conduct impulses faster, so the escape is quicker
  6. A myelin sheath (myelinated fibres conduct faster)

Riddle me this

Course terms as riddles. Teams write what it is.

  1. I'm a single long fibre that can stretch from your spine to your toe, carrying impulses away from the cell body. What am I?
  2. I'm the narrow space between two neurons. Messages can't jump me as electricity; they have to swim across as chemicals. What am I?
  3. I'm minus 70 millivolts of calm: a neuron waiting, pumps working, nothing firing. What am I?
  4. I'm a quick flip in charge that races along a nerve fibre, all or nothing. What am I?
  5. I'm released from a vesicle, cross a tiny gap and bind to a receptor on the far side. Acetylcholine is one of me. What am I?
Answers
  1. Axon
  2. Synaptic cleft
  3. Resting potential
  4. Action potential
  5. Neurotransmitter

Quickfire

Short recall from the same topics.

  1. Part of a neuron holding the nucleus
  2. Long fibre carrying impulses to terminals
  3. Short branch receiving input from neurons
Answers
  1. Cell body
  2. Axon
  3. Dendrite

How it runs

  1. Open it in the builder. The running order loads ready to go. Swap, add or drop rounds, or draw a round's questions again.
  2. Present it or print it. Present puts each round on the projector in 16:9 with quizmaster notes. Print gives the script, team answer sheets, a picture sheet and a tally sheet on A4 or US Letter, with no projector needed.
  3. Score it. Teams swap sheets, mark, and each plays one joker to double a round. The scores page reveals the leaderboard from last place up.

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