Professor Kane assigns the Biology class a terrarium project. When the study group ends up with lab partners from outside the gang, they beg Prof. Kane to let them partner up among themselves, which he grants with some exasperation. However, the partnerships of Troy and Abed, Britta and Shirley, Jeff and Annie, and Pierce and outsider Todd have quickly noticeable compatibility problems and the study group decides to shuffle pairs, which quickly gets way too serious.