Catalyst - Free Classroom Simulation

Where This Fits in Your Curriculum

This is the Unit 1 capstone, not a day-three introduction. Run it in weeks 4 to 5, the week after the food-tests lab, once students already know that iodine finds starch and Benedict's finds reducing sugars - the game sells those tests back to them as purchased information, which only lands if the chemistry is already theirs. Students need macromolecule categories and the basic enzyme-substrate idea. They do NOT need kinetics, free-energy diagrams, or any math beyond adding and halving whole dollars. Underneath the biomanufacturing theme the game is drilling one misconception hard: specificity is molecular, not categorical. Lactose and starch are both carbohydrates and amylase still earns zero on lactose. Biology 1 and Honors Biology teachers get the most out of it; Biotech, Ag Science and Environmental Science teachers can run it unchanged, and the recommended path is two class periods. It does compress into a single 52 to 54 minute period if that is all you have.

What Students Will Learn

Predict whether a given enzyme will act on a given feedstock by comparing substrate identity at the molecular level, not by macromolecule category.
Use a published optimum band to choose a reaction temperature and pH, and explain the yield consequence of running outside it.
Explain why cold reduces enzyme activity reversibly while heat above the denaturation line usually destroys it for good.
Select an indicator test that will actually distinguish between two candidate feedstocks, and decide when the information is not worth its price.
Justify choosing a eukaryotic over a prokaryotic production organism for a product that requires glycosylation.
Compute the profit consequence of a production decision from stated costs, prices and payment tiers before committing to it.

Cases Included

NGSS HS-LS1-1 - Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins, which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells. Every enzyme on the shelf is one of those proteins, and its shape decides what it can do.
NGSS HS-ETS1-3 - Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs including cost, safety, reliability and aesthetics. The chiller decision, the assay purchases and the sealed-bid premium are all explicit cost-benefit calls with the arithmetic on screen.
NGSS Science and Engineering Practice 5 - Using mathematics and computational thinking. Students compute expected margin from feedstock cost, enzyme cost and payment tier before locking a batch.
NGSS Crosscutting Concept - Structure and Function. The whole game is one claim: the shape of the active site decides which molecule reacts, and temperature and pH decide whether that shape still exists.
Common Core ELA RST.9-10.7 - Translate quantitative information expressed in a text into visual form and vice versa. The enzyme catalog is a data table; the instrument strip is the same data as a picture, and students move between them every round.

Social & Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Aligned to the CASEL framework's core competencies. These are the SEL skills students actively practice while playing.

Responsible Decision-Making Primary. Every round is a cost-benefit decision made under uncertainty with the arithmetic visible: buy a $250 indicator test or guess, pay $800 for the chiller or plan around the heat, bid low enough to win the premium contract and high enough that winning is still worth anything. The margin line sits on the bid ticket.
Relationship Skills The job cards and the paper planning slips force explicit negotiation inside each company. The Process Engineer owns temperature and pH, the CFO owns the bid, the Compliance officer checks the plan against the catalog before it locks, and the rule printed on every slip is that nobody types until the slips are filled. That is a designed defence against the one-fast-kid-drives failure mode.
Self-Management Round 3 is built around resisting an instinct. The heat wave pushes every reactor up 10 degrees, and the reflex is to pay to make the problem go away or to run at the published optimum anyway. Both cost money. The teams that stop, read the band, and set the dial low enough that the drift lands them inside it are practising exactly the pause that the round is for.

Flexible Class Sizes

Small (4 companies)

Four companies, 8 to 20 students. The Round 2 board drops Feather Meal so the three-way choice does not thin out. Fewer bidders makes the sealed-bid rounds gentler - useful for a first run.

Standard (5 companies)

Five companies, 10 to 25 students. Full contract boards every round. This is the default and the one the timing budget is written for.

Full (6 companies)

Six companies, 12 to 30 students, stretching to 34 by running four of the six teams six-strong (the fifth and sixth students take the Quality Officer and Compliance job cards). Full boards. The results theater is one company at a time and teacher-paced, with a 12-second auto-advance if you leave it alone.

How the Game Plays Out

Turn 1: Training Batch

One contract, one catalog, one lock

"Which enzyme actually fits this molecule, and what does the catalog say about the temperature?"

Turn 2: Open Market

An open board and a tanker nobody labeled

"What is information worth, when a wrong guess costs you the whole batch?"

Turn 3: Heat Wave

The cooling water is offline

"Do you pay $800 for the chiller, or set a dial the heat wave cannot push out of the band?"

Turn 4: Scale-Up

Stop buying enzymes. Start making one.

"Which cell can build what this client is paying for?"

Roles Your Students Will Play

Click any role to see their background and what they are trying to accomplish.

Amber Bioworks

Amber Bioworks took over a decommissioned syrup plant and kept the tanks. Two years in business, one good year, and a bank that would like to see a third. Like every company in the park, Amber buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage here and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Cobalt Bioworks

Cobalt Bioworks was three chemistry graduates and a leased fermenter eighteen months ago, and it is still mostly that. They are the newest company in the park and the fastest to try something. Like every company here, Cobalt buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Sage Bioworks

Sage Bioworks came out of an agricultural extension lab and never quite lost the habit of writing everything down. They keep the tidiest batch records in the park, which has saved them twice. Like every company here, Sage buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Umber Bioworks

Umber Bioworks runs the oldest equipment in the park and knows every noise it makes. They have survived two bad seasons by being careful with money rather than clever with chemistry. Like every company here, Umber buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Slate Bioworks

Slate Bioworks was spun out of a paper mill's process group, which is why they are the only company in the park who reads an effluent contract without wrinkling their nose. Like every company here, Slate buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Coral Bioworks

Coral Bioworks is the company most likely to bid. They have taken two premium contracts in the last year and lost money on one of them, and they still think it was the right call. Like every company here, Coral buys from the same public enzyme catalog and bids against the same board - there is no house advantage and no house handicap.

You start with $10,000 in cash. The enzyme catalog is public and identical for every company. Your reactor sets one temperature and one pH per batch. A wrong enzyme earns nothing and still costs you the feedstock, the enzyme and a $1,000 breach penalty. Cash can go negative and no company is ever eliminated.

Goals

Deliver at full tier as often as possible. In a four-round game, Certified Supplier takes three full deliveries and $20,000. In a three-round game it takes two full deliveries and $16,000.
Read the catalog before you set a dial. The substrate column decides the enzyme; the band columns decide the temperature and pH.
Spend money on information only when the information changes what you would do.

Hand Each Student Their Own Sheet

One click on the teacher dashboard prints a dossier for every role - background, goals, key facts, and their confidential briefing - plus the primary-source packet and a vocabulary sheet. Print them, or save as PDF, so each student reads their role on paper instead of huddling around one screen. The app still runs the votes and the action; the paper just carries the reading.

Primary Sources

Every role includes real historical documents. Students read them because they need the information to make their case.

Industrial Enzyme Technical Data Sheet (simplified for classroom use)

Indicator Test Reference Chart

Key Terms Students Will Learn

enzymesubstratecatalystactive sitedenaturationoptimumspecificitymacromoleculepolymerreducing sugarcarbohydrateproteinlipidlactoseindicator testglycosylationprokaryoteeukaryotefeedstockyield

After the Game: Debrief Questions

Amylase and lactase both act on carbohydrates. Why would amylase earn zero dollars on dairy permeate?
A cold reactor only slows the reaction. A reactor past the catalog's dead-above number destroys the batch. What happens to the enzyme molecule that makes heat so much worse than cold?
Your stomach digests protein at pH 2, using pepsin. Our rule said pH 2 destroys the enzyme. Why didn't that rule apply to pepsin?
Was any assay worth more than it cost? When is buying zero assays the right call?
A client needs sugar chains attached to a protein as the cell makes it. Production bacteria such as E. coli can grow the protein but cannot attach the chains. What organelles is that client paying for?
If a sealed bid was won this game, check the winner against the companies who lost it - did winning actually pay more? What would you bid differently, and why?
Where in your own body do these reactions run, at what temperature and pH? And why do some enzymes on our shelf run so much hotter than the ones in your body?

Class Time

Designed For

Roles

Class Sizes

Learning Objectives

Standards

Where This Fits in Your Curriculum

What Students Will Learn

Cases Included

Social & Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Flexible Class Sizes

How the Game Plays Out

Roles Your Students Will Play

Hand Each Student Their Own Sheet

Primary Sources

Key Terms Students Will Learn

After the Game: Debrief Questions

Ready to run this in your classroom?