Teaching-mechanic library

chrono_bridge · general · sequencer.linear

Concept: Any process, timeline, or procedure

Player does: Place the steps in the right order; decoys don't belong

Breaks: The order of steps doesn't matter

A procedure works only because each step prepares the next; reordering breaks the chain.

cycle_wheel · general · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Any cyclic process

Player does: A loop of rooms rotates one stage per clear; trigger the stages in order

Breaks: A cycle has a fixed start and end

A cycle has no first stage; what matters is which stage feeds which.

proof_ladder · math · sequencer.linear

Concept: Two-column proofs

Player does: Order the rungs of a proof; one decoy reason doesn't follow

Breaks: If it looks true in the diagram, it's proven

A geometric proof needs a chain of justified statements, since a diagram can look true without the relationship being proven.

trig_solve_bridge · math · sequencer.linear

Concept: Solving sin x = k

Player does: Lay the planks: isolate, reference angle, quadrants, all solutions

Breaks: sin x = ½ has one solution

Solving a trig equation means isolating, finding the reference angle, then using every quadrant where the sign matches.

spread_field · math · sequencer.rank

Concept: Standard deviation

Player does: Rank datasets with the same mean by spread

Breaks: Same mean, same data

Two datasets can share the same mean while differing greatly in standard deviation, which measures the spread around it.

periodic_landscape · chemistry · sequencer.rank

Concept: Periodic trends

Player does: Rank elements by atomic radius or electronegativity

Breaks: Atoms get bigger left to right

Atomic radius shrinks left to right across a period as nuclear charge pulls electrons in tighter.

escape_energy · chemistry · sequencer.rank

Concept: Intermolecular forces

Player does: Rank substances by boiling point from their attractions

Breaks: Boiling breaks covalent bonds

Boiling overcomes the intermolecular forces between molecules; the covalent bonds within each molecule stay intact.

chromosome_logistics · biology · sequencer.linear

Concept: Mitosis

Player does: Duplicate and separate chromosome sets in stage order

Breaks: Chromosomes duplicate during prophase

Chromosomes duplicate during interphase, before mitosis's stages of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase begin.

levels_tower · biology · sequencer.linear

Concept: Levels of organization

Player does: Climb cell → tissue → organ → system → organism

Breaks: Organs are built directly from cells

Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, so organs are built from tissues, not directly from cells.

krebs_wheel · biology · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Krebs cycle

Player does: Rotate the wheel so each intermediate feeds the next

Breaks: Glucose enters the Krebs cycle directly

Glucose is broken down to pyruvate and then acetyl-CoA before entering the Krebs cycle, not directly.

heart_run · biology · sequencer.linear

Concept: Blood flow

Player does: Sprint through the chambers in blood-flow order; valves are one-way gates

Breaks: All arteries carry oxygen-rich blood

The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood to the lungs, so arteries are not defined by carrying oxygen-rich blood.

rock_cycle_wheel · earth_space · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Rock cycle

Player does: Rotate processes so each rock type becomes the next

Breaks: Rocks only change in one direction

The rock cycle has no fixed starting point; igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock can each transform into any other type.

strata_xray · earth_space · sequencer.rank

Concept: Relative dating

Player does: X-ray the cliff; order layers oldest to youngest

Breaks: Layer order says nothing about age

The law of superposition means undisturbed rock layers get younger from bottom to top.

water_cycle_wheel · earth_space · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Water cycle

Player does: Restart the cycle by triggering stages in order

Breaks: Clouds are water vapor

Clouds are condensed liquid droplets or ice, while water vapor itself is invisible gas.

star_life · earth_space · sequencer.linear

Concept: Stellar evolution

Player does: Route the star through its life stages by mass

Breaks: All stars end as black holes

A star's mass decides its fate: only very massive stars can collapse into a black hole; smaller stars end as white dwarfs or neutron stars.

tower_access · cs · sequencer.linear

Concept: Stacks

Player does: Predict the pop order after pushes and pops

Breaks: First in, first out

A stack is last in, first out: the most recently pushed item is the one that pops first.

processing_line · cs · sequencer.linear

Concept: Queues

Player does: Predict the service order at the processing line

Breaks: The newest arrival is served first

A queue is first in, first out, so the earliest arrival is served before newer ones.

branch_explorer · cs · sequencer.linear

Concept: Tree traversal

Player does: Order the rooms visited in pre-, in-, or post-order

Breaks: In-order means top to bottom

In-order traversal visits left subtree, node, then right subtree, which is not the same as visiting top to bottom.

network_explorer · cs · sequencer.linear

Concept: BFS vs DFS

Player does: Predict the visit order as BFS spreads and DFS dives

Breaks: BFS and DFS visit in the same order

BFS explores level by level with a queue while DFS dives deep with a stack, so they visit nodes in different orders.

big_o_race · cs · sequencer.rank

Concept: Complexity

Player does: Rank runners by growth rate as n explodes

Breaks: An O(n²) algorithm is always slower

Big-O describes growth as input size gets large; an O(n²) algorithm can still be faster than a worse-growth one on small inputs.

osi_elevator · cs · sequencer.linear

Concept: Network layers

Player does: Ride a packet down and up the protocol stack

Breaks: Layers can be skipped

Each OSI layer depends on the one below it, so data must pass through every layer in order, never skipping one.

datapath_relay · engineering · sequencer.linear

Concept: Instruction execution

Player does: Route an instruction through fetch, decode, execute, memory, write-back

Breaks: The PC changes only on jumps and branches

The program counter advances after every instruction, not only on a jump or branch.

memory_distance · engineering · sequencer.rank

Concept: Memory hierarchy

Player does: Rank storage by latency and capacity

Breaks: Bigger memory is faster

Memory hierarchy trades capacity for speed: the fastest tiers, like cache, are the smallest.

reflex_arc · health · sequencer.linear

Concept: Reflex arc

Player does: Order receptor, sensory neuron, spinal cord, motor neuron, effector

Breaks: Reflexes go through the brain first

A reflex arc routes through the spinal cord, which is what makes it faster than a decision made by the brain.

timeline_reconstruction · history · sequencer.timeline

Concept: Chronology

Player does: Rebuild the events in order; dates reveal after placing

Breaks: Events happened in the order the textbook mentions them

A textbook's narrative order can differ from the true chronology of events, which is what dated evidence establishes.

bill_to_law · civics · sequencer.linear

Concept: Legislative process

Player does: Move the bill through every stage to become law

Breaks: A bill becomes law after one vote

A bill must pass committee, both chambers, and the president's signature or an override before it becomes law.

business_cycle_wheel · economics · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Business cycle

Player does: Turn the wheel through expansion, peak, contraction, trough

Breaks: Recessions come out of nowhere

Recessions follow the business cycle's contraction phase, which typically follows a peak of overextended growth.

memory_stages · psychology · sequencer.linear

Concept: Memory model

Player does: Route information from sensory to short-term to long-term memory

Breaks: Memory records like a video camera

Memory is reconstructed through encoding, storage, and retrieval stages, not recorded and replayed like video.

plot_arc · literature · sequencer.linear

Concept: Plot structure

Player does: Place scenes along exposition → rising action → climax → resolution

Breaks: The climax is the ending

The climax is the turning point of highest tension, and the resolution afterward is what closes the story.

paragraph_builder · writing · sequencer.linear

Concept: Paragraph structure

Player does: Order claim, evidence, analysis, transition

Breaks: Evidence speaks for itself

Evidence needs analysis connecting it back to the claim; it rarely makes its point on its own.

word_order_bridge · language · sequencer.linear

Concept: Syntax

Player does: Lay word planks in grammatical order

Breaks: Adjectives always come before nouns

Word order rules, including adjective placement, are set by each language's grammar and vary across languages.

fifths_wheel · music · sequencer.cycle

Concept: Circle of fifths

Player does: Rotate the wheel so each key is a fifth from the last

Breaks: Keys are ordered alphabetically

The circle of fifths orders keys by a perfect fifth between neighbors, not by alphabetical letter name.

gallery_timeline · art · sequencer.timeline

Concept: Art chronology

Player does: Hang works in chronological order

Breaks: Styles replace each other cleanly

Art movements overlap in time and influence each other rather than cleanly replacing one another.