U.S. History Students had a tough escape act to follow this year, as their teachers created a real-life “escape room” based on major court cases on constitutional issues regarding freedom of speech, the Privacy Act, freedom of religion and more.
“The students research the extent at which citizens have this constitutional right,” U.S. History Teacher Marshall McCurties said. “They use the results of the court case and two other legal court precedents that they research to argue their point.”
After that, the students came together to participate in an escape room based on the information they researched. The room was designed with an ordered series of questions/prompts, and each prompt related to a court case.
“When the students receive the first clue, they should have an idea about the court case it relates to. After working through that clue, it leads to the correct answer and the next clue, just like a normal escape room does,” McCurties said.
Some of the props in the escape room included locked boxes containing hidden clues, newspapers and iPads to decode parts and black-lit flashlights to reveal hidden ink. Student teams could only escape the room if each student had a solid understanding of their court case.