Garde du corps: a serious game to understand the immune defences

The five missions

1. 1. The splinter — barriers and the inflammatory response

   Innate immunity · about 8 minutes

   A splinter has pierced Léa's skin and staphylococci have got in. Pupils remove the splinter and disinfect the wound (the antiseptic only works on the surface). They watch the mast cell release histamine and the four signs of inflammation appear, then steer a neutrophil granulocyte: leaving the blood vessel (diapedesis), moving guided by chemical signals, and phagocytosis. A dendritic cell then sets off towards a lymph node.

   Key concepts: natural barriers, contamination and infection, antiseptics, the inflammatory response, phagocytosis.

2. 2. The lymph node — specificity and selection of lymphocytes

   Adaptive immunity · about 7 minutes

   Léa has flu. In a lymph node, pupils compare the shape of the receptors with that of the antigen to select, from lymphocytes that are all different, a T4 lymphocyte, a B lymphocyte and a T8 lymphocyte. The selected cells multiply; thanks to the interleukins from the T4 cells, the B cells become plasma cells and the T8 cells become cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and memory cells are formed.

   Key concepts: antigen-presenting cell, specificity, selection and proliferation of lymphocytes, cooperation between lymphocytes.

3. 3. The counter-attack — antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocytes

   Adaptive immunity · about 7 minutes

   In the bronchi, pupils manage a stock of antibodies, which neutralise free viruses, and send cytotoxic T lymphocytes to destroy infected cells. The medicine cabinet shows that an antibiotic has no effect on a virus and that paracetamol relieves symptoms without curing.

   Key concepts: neutralisation, immune complexes, destruction of infected cells, antibiotics and viruses.

4. 4. What about a vaccine? — immune memory and vaccination

   Vaccination · about 8 minutes

   What if Léa had been vaccinated? Pupils inject a vaccine containing inactivated, split viruses, follow the formation of memory cells, then replay the same infection: the secondary response is faster and stronger. The review asks them to read a graph of the primary and secondary responses, a classic exam exercise.

   Key concepts: vaccine, memory lymphocytes, primary and secondary responses, reading a graph.

5. 5. Outbreak at school — herd immunity

   Public health · about 5 minutes

   A highly contagious disease, such as measles, reaches the school. Pupils set the proportion of vaccinated pupils and watch the disease spread, especially among vulnerable pupils who cannot be vaccinated.

   Key concepts: contagion, vaccination coverage, individual and collective protection.

For teachers

• Each mission ends with an active review (drag and drop, putting steps in order, multiple-choice questions, reading a graph) and a ‘Key points’ screen.
• An atlas of 18 illustrated cards (actual size, role, appearance under the microscope, ‘Did you know?’) and a size scale explorer, from a hair to an antibody.
• A teacher area: outline and key concepts, deliberate simplifications, teaching suggestions, settings (‘Discovery’ or ‘Challenge’ difficulty, unlocking all missions, resetting progress).
• Three printable pupil worksheets (lesson to complete, summary diagram, graph-reading exercise) with an answer key that can be shown.
• Cells drawn in the colours of the May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain used for blood smears, to link the game with observations under the microscope.

Scientific accuracy

The game's texts have been checked for scientific accuracy. The necessary simplifications are pointed out to pupils (‘In the game’ section of the atlas) and explained in detail in the teacher area: microbes and molecules drawn much bigger than in reality, sped-up timescales, cells ‘steered’ by the player when in reality they respond to chemical signals, infected cells that ‘burst’ when in reality the influenza virus leaves the cell gradually by budding, and vaccine viruses drawn whole.

Frequently asked questions

Credits

Design and development: Sébastien Heckmann, life sciences teacher.

Cells drawn by the program, sounds synthesised by the browser, Fraunces and Lexend fonts (Google Fonts, SIL Open Font Licence).