North Hills Middle School eighth-graders tested their
knowledge of the Constitution and their problem-solving skills during a BreakoutEDU
activity that combined popular escape rooms, iPads, American presidents and
primary source historical documents. Students were told that a president wants to create their
own version of American history by getting rid of all primary source documents.
The secret to saving the nation and stopping the president from abusing their
power was locked in a heavy, wooden box secured by five locks. Only they could
save the nation by using their communication, collaboration, critical thinking
and creativity skills to open the box and release its answer before time
expired.
Primary source historical documents used included:
- James Madison’s Speech on Amendments to the Constitution
from June 8, 1789 - Students had to use this document to open the directional
lock on the box.
- Signatures of the U.S. Constitution - Students used the
date, 1787, to open the four-digit lock.
- Article II of the Constitution and Voting Data from the 1824
Election - Students used this to open a smaller locked box with answers to
questions that were written on a transparency. Students then used these answers
to match them up with questions, realizing that there was a message written on
the bottom of the paper that could only be seen when all answers were in the
correct spot, “BILL.” “BILL” opened the
word lock.
- Presidential quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan,
John F. Kennedy and others about the importance of the Constitution, with one
Franklin Pierce quote stating “The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably
dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution” had an
italicized word, rock. There were three
hidden rocks in the room, each with a key to the locked box underneath them.
Students worked together to decipher clues from the various
primary source documents used by teacher Joe Welch throughout the year from
TeachingAmericanHistory.org/Ashbrook's 50 Core Documents, Our Documents,
Library of Congress, National Archives, Gilder Lehrman and the Smithsonian
Learning Lab.
Once they were worked out solutions and unlocked each lock,
the students found the answer they needed to save the nation from ruin – the
Constitution.