Hello, my dear colleagues! I will shortly go through the Harry Potter-themed escape room I’ve made for a professional development workshop in International School Savremena in Belgrade (the third and final room includes a Horcrux quest). This Harry Potter escape room is interdisciplinary, and it connects all school subjects, which can ultimately provide a very engaging assessment in multiple subjects. or
Does an escape room belong in education? I would dare to say YES! Escape rooms are exciting, and they can test multiple 21st-century skills in students, not to mention the content knowledge and logical thinking skills. Escape rooms can serve as a group assessment or even as ice-breakers at the beginning of the year. They also provide an opportunity for teachers from various subjects to collaborate and connect their subjects!
The Horcrux Quest
Classroom setting: Fat Lady poster from the common room is on the door.
They were supposed to look for 7 Horcruxes individually, and the house got points.
The clue was on the smartboard. But, first, they needed to look at what was written in the invisible ink on the map. This riddle was written on the back of the map.
Invisible ink on the map showed them what and where to search for it. Once they solved 7 tasks, they approached and they got a Harry Potter treat.
Now, I had no time to create invisible ink because it required lemon juice and a lighter. I was also afraid that they would burn the map, so I have to find something to use instead of lemon juice. In this situation, I just wrote the hints with tiny letters on the map. The riddles were and real-life objects which were hidden across the room.
To get the treat, they had to say the keyword they got by solving the task. The treats were real candy boxes from Harry Potter.
The Horcrux tasks
- Find the train ticket for the 9 ¾ platform.
- Find a quote in the book – riddle: What does the Golden Snitch do at the end?
- Daily prophet page – what is the name of this wizard and what is the name of this newspaper?
- Spell check on a piece of paper – What does Alohomora mean?
- Decode Harry Potter codes with a decoder.
- Find a time turner necklace. Question: Who owns this time turner?
- Find a clue in Nevil’s rememberal – His Horcrux was a journal, and his name is?
When they open the ‘’treat’,’ they will see a Horcrux inside. On the back of each Horcrux, there are letters. Next, the Horcruxes need to be combined properly to write FORTUNA MAJOR, one of the passwords to the Gryffindor common room the fat lady requested. The last task was to translate it from Latin to English, write it on paper, and then push it below the door. If the password was correct, the door would open.
I FORGOT TO LOCK THE DOOR
Being a mortal, I dare say a muggle, I forgot to lock the door in the third room of the escape room. The teachers didn’t mind, but it was a big mistake, and it ruined the theatrical door unlocking. Reminder: LOCK THE DOOR NEXT TIME!
To conclude
The escape room went really well! I worked a lot on it, but I still think that there is room for improvement. I will edit some parts and work on the classroom setting a bit more next time. Take a look at the workshop part to see how the teachers created their own escape room after finishing with the Harry Potter escape room!
What do you think about using a Harry Potter escape room or a Horcrux quest in your classroom? Can they be used as an engaging assessment and as a way to promote collaboration between teachers? Please write in the comments or via the contact page, I would love to hear your opinion!
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