Current Electricity - Save the technician Escape Room

Finish and reinforce the KS3 current electricity module or revisit it prior to exams with this innovative, enjoyable and challenging escape room lesson. Prior knowledge required:

• current, voltage and resistance – defining and understanding, units, measuring;
• circuits and symbols;
• series and parallel circuits – current, voltage, switches, lamps;
• current and voltage varying with number of batteries; 
• Ohms Law.

Pupils have to work their way through the clues to find the code to a box with a combination lock containing an antidote to a substance, accidentally ingested by the laboratory. The substance is the departments prototype, orally administered sunscreen which has unfortunately been found to turn the skin of mice purple and which has not yet been tested on humans and is also therefore potentially toxic. 

The pack contains:

• PowerPoint – scene setting and instructions (sound effects and built-in timer);
• crossword;
• word search;
• dominoes activity;
• worksheet;
• code breaker sheet;
• answer keys;
• lesson plan.

Solving the four clues and transferring the results to the code breaker sheet takes about 50 minutes with mixed ability groups but fewer clue sheets can be used to suit time constraints. The worksheet is the most challenging clue to solve and this can be omitted for less able classes.

Both 3 and 4 number combination locks can be purchased very cheaply online if using an actual box containing an unopened bottle of a soft drink, with the label removed, for a member of the winning team to take to the technician. In the absence of a locked box, until the code is found, as each group completes a team member can be dispatched to the prep room for the technician to ”try the code”.

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