This week, MICDS U.S. History students have been trying to escape from class using their knowledge of the law. Earlier in the term, 10th-grade students were asked to write a research paper on how the Supreme Court has addressed the protection of individual rights over the years. Students were assigned one of nine different topics including free speech, right to bear arms, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, freedom of religion, free press, and freedom from discrimination. Their essays analyzed to what extent this right has been protected, what limitations have been put in place, or if protections have expanded over time. As part of their research, they had to investigate one specific case and could find additional cases that they found interesting.
The teachers, including Max Campbell, Upper School History Teacher; Elizabeth Wells, Upper School History Teacher; and Christian Borja, Upper School Coordinator of Instructional Technology, then used information about the different law cases to create questions and clues to build the escape room activity. To unlock boxes students worked as a class to answer questions about the different court cases they researched. Each opened box led them to the next until all nine boxes were unlocked. Ultimately, they found the key in the last box which would unlock the door and let them out. Each class was given 40 minutes but only one group was able to answer the final set of questions in the allotted time and “escape the room.” This is the third year the History Department has organized the escape room activity and the reception has been positive each time. The activity gives students opportunities to share their research and demonstrate what they learned to help the class succeed as a whole.