By: Ms. Goff, Journee Perry, and Brina Robinson
Mr. Brown’s World History classes participated in an exciting lockbox activity on Friday, Nov. 10 to learn different history concepts. The ‘lockbox’, also known as ‘escape room’, activities stem from the ever popular Escape rooms popping up around the country. Brown describes his lockbox activity;
“The way we used the activity is almost like our final assessment. We have spent time learning about different philosophies and philosophers of the time period. We wanted to get students to utilize the concepts of the philosophies in a real-life way..they would have to figure out things from readings and use what they figured out to achieve a goal; in this case, opening up a lock and getting into a box.”
According to the popular teaching blog “Classcraft”, escape rooms bring essential learning qualities to the school environment including, engagement, team building, problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation. Channing Purnell (Sophomore), a student in Mr. Brown’s world history class, describes his experience, reflecting those qualities.
“You got to have patience and work together. It makes us think harder.”
Aaron Shannon (Sophomore), another World History student, reflected on his experience. “It’s [the activity] is better because it really challenges our brains to work more than it usually works, and it also helps you with your problem-solving skills.”
In the future, Shannon hopes other teachers will follow Mr. Brown’s lead.
Mr. Brown adds. “We have boxes available and plans in place. We can support anybody who wants to do an activity like this…it can be used by anyone!”
