Plant and Animal Cells - Structure, Differences, Specialisation - Escape Room

Finish and reinforce the middle school cell module or revisit it prior to exams with this innovative, enjoyable and challenging escape room lesson. Prior knowledge required:

• structure of plant and animal cells;
• function of nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall, vacuole, chloroplasts, mitochondria;
• differences between plant and animal cells;
• recognise diagrams of and know the differences in specialised cells such as red blood cells, root hair cells, fat cells, nerve cells, palisade cells, egg cells, ciliated cells.

Pupils have to work their way through the clues to find the code to a combination lock which has been set to the same code as one borrowed from the science department and used on the door of the walk – in freezer in the school kitchen. The school cook has now been accidentally locked in and the combination need to be found.

The pack contains:

• PowerPoint – scene setting and instructions (sound effects and built-in timer);
• crossword;
• word search;
• dominoes activity;
• worksheet (differentiated over two versions);
• code breaker sheet;
• answer keys;
• lesson plan.

If time is limited just the crossword, word search and domino can be used. With a minimum of 50 minutes available one of the differentiated worksheets can also be used.

Both 3 and 4 number combination locks can be purchased very cheaply online if using an actual combination lock for realism.

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