Students in Grade 2 of the Working Children and Youth class have worked together to create several puzzles, tasks, and rooms that participants must solve in order to progress. Here all the stones must be turned over, every hint evaluated and every lock unlocked. If you keep calm and work together, you can be back in 45 minutes.
Mysterious puzzle
The escape game begins with a short story. Pål and Emmy, who are cooking porridge for the students, are kidnapped. Through the rooms, the group must search for clues to find out what happened.
Paul and Amy are gone. They have been gone for 13 days. Therefore, there is no porridge that can be eaten at school. You have to find them. Pass the escape room and save them.
– We have posted all the hints and information you need to solve the puzzle. You have to know what the solution is, but you can be fooled. Everyone worked together to provide lots of extra hints and decorate the room with things unrelated to the task, says Olsen.
– It is not easy to create such a task. We must provide people with everything they need, but at the same time it should not be easy, Ødegård emphasizes.
Audio, text and images
Pupils used objects from school, my cook cooking porridge and the classroom to make the hints. Students say that even with all that was done, the project cost nothing. Instead, they were challenged to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to create their own puzzles. The upshot is that hints can be almost anything.
Can you tell which hints are helpful and which are just getting in the way?
The most controversial hint is inside the second room.
Marie Bakevik-Johansson, Steen Jasrud-Uersing and Dinah-Marie Nielsen tested the escape game before the opening. They were completely fooled and got a little upset before they cracked the code.
– We tried to solve the riddle and looked for clues. At the same time, there was an annoying sound in the room that became very annoying, Johansson says.
When they listened closely to the disturbing sound, they discovered it was Morse code.
– They concluded that it was really interesting that it was so difficult.
Brand New
The school has never done anything like this before, confirms communication teacher Linda Spitz.
– We thought no matter how it went, there was a lot of learning in the process. She says pupils have to think, create tasks, create problems and use hints to tell those in the escape room how to solve the puzzle.
The students answered that making hints that were so difficult was a fun challenge.
“It’s fun to see that we were able to transform the music room into something completely new,” says Olsen.
When things are fun, you often learn more. If we can, Spitz says, we’d love to make another escape room again later.
I hope it stays on the curriculum
The pupils who made the room this time hoped it would be repeated for Year 2 pupils next year. They describe the project as fun, educational, and an opportunity to learn by doing something hands-on.
– We can take this further with us. Although we may be working with younger children, this can be a nice activity. You can adapt the puzzles to the children’s level and create lots of fun activities for them, says Ødegård.
Borg High School principal Eduard Odberg believes the project can be done again.
– I don’t condone the fact that we can do it again. He says it’s obvious here that it was fun.
In addition, the task indicated what they like most about the teacher, students say.
– The whole class notices that Linda is having fun too. Olsen says she’s very observant and that means we learn more.
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