Cell transport · Point-and-click investigation
The Case of the Burst Cell
A patient's red blood cells are bursting after a transfusion. Search the lab for clues, pair clues into leads, and crack each lead until you can name what really happened at the membrane.
- 9 concepts
- 11 exercises
- About 10 minutes
- Before & after check
Built from the study material “Biology Unit 3: Cell Membranes and Transport”. The lessons and exercises below come from that material. Upload your own notes to get a game like this one.
What you'll learn
Unit 1 · The membrane and selectivity
Phospholipid bilayer
The student can describe the bilayer's structure and explain why it is a barrier to polar and charged substances.
Selective permeability
The student can predict whether a molecule crosses freely, needs a channel or carrier, or needs a pump.
Unit 2 · Passive transport
Diffusion
The student can explain diffusion as the net result of random motion down a concentration gradient.
Osmosis
The student can predict the direction of water movement from the solute concentrations on each side.
Tonicity: hypotonic, isotonic, hypertonic
The student can classify a solution as hypotonic, isotonic, or hypertonic relative to a cell and predict the cell's fate.
Facilitated diffusion
The student can distinguish facilitated diffusion from simple diffusion and from active transport.
Unit 3 · Active transport
Active transport
The student can explain why moving a substance against its gradient requires ATP and give an example.
The sodium-potassium pump
The student can state what the sodium-potassium pump moves, in which directions, and why it matters.
Unit 4 · Bulk transport
Endocytosis and exocytosis
The student can order the steps of endocytosis and exocytosis and explain why both are active processes.
Exercises
You'll meet these in order as you play. Each one uses the concept as the rule.
- Exercise 1LessonNot completed
Three chests describe the membrane, the thin skin around the cell. One is a mimic. Find its false claim.
Phospholipid bilayer
- Exercise 2LessonNot completed
Sort the molecules waiting at the membrane. Can each one slip through the fat alone, or does it need a transport protein?
Selective permeability
- Exercise 3LessonNot completed
A drop of dye lands in still water. Put what happens next in order. One step is a myth.
Diffusion
- Exercise 4LessonNot completed
A new lab apprentice watched a cell swell in pond water and wants to know why. Explain it to them.
Osmosis
- Exercise 5LessonNot completed
The drip bag, the swollen cells, the torn membranes. Rebuild the case: connect each event to what it caused.
Tonicity: hypotonic, isotonic, hypertonic
- Exercise 6LessonNot completed
More cargo is waiting at the gates. Sort each one as passive (free) or active (costs ATP, the cell's energy).
Facilitated diffusion
- Exercise 7LessonNot completed
The pump room hums. Three chests describe active transport, which means moving things with a pump. One is a mimic.
Active transport
- Exercise 8LessonNot completed
The sodium-potassium pump swaps sodium and potassium across the membrane. Rewire it by matching each part of one cycle to its value.
The sodium-potassium pump
- Exercise 9ReviewNot completed
Review time! Pick which way water moves for each cell before it drifts by.
Osmosis
- Exercise 10LessonNot completed
The big door only opens if the planks show how a large particle gets into the cell. One plank doesn't belong.
Endocytosis and exocytosis
- Exercise 11ChallengeNot completed
The Gatekeeper dumps mixed cargo at your feet. Sort each item by how it crosses the membrane.
Active transport · Facilitated diffusion