Escape to Knowledge

The main objective of the educational activity that took place at the 6^th Primary School of Hermoupolis was the creation of an Escape Room, which is undoubtedly a time-consuming and difficult process. However, this process was an opportunity for both the students and the teachers involved to work collaboratively and creatively. By participating in the process of preparing everything needed for an escape room (script, riddles, puzzles, crafts, etc.), the students had the chance to work in creative ways, achieving their end goal with their teacher’s assistance.

This has been the first attempt at developing an Escape Room by children for children. The 3^rd grade of the 6^th Primary School of Hermoupolis created an Escape Room which was educational in nature and was mainly addressed to primary and secondary school pupils. To create the riddles, the children collaborated with pupils from France and Croatia virtually, through the eTwinning school partnership platform.

With the help of their teacher, the pupils developed a script and participated in the creation of the riddles. After some initial brainstorming and once decisions were made regarding the Escape Room’s storyline pillars (Eurystheus hid Hercules’s club in the children's library), the children seeked information in books, on the internet, etc. to create the riddles for the Escape Room. The themes for the riddles, as well as the Escape Room’s main educational objectives touched on the following topics:

1. Mythology, a subject area that is part of the 3^rd-grade History curriculum

2. Natural Sciences, in the context of the Environmental Studies curriculum

Upon completion of the Escape Room’s construction, an invitation was sent to the public and private schools of Syros to visit the site and attempt to ‘Escape to Knowledge!’ At the same time, the poster of the project was shared with the local print and digital media platforms.

• The class that participated in the project was the 3^rd grade of the 6^th Primary School of Hermoupolis. In particular, 21 pupils participated in the production of the documentary available to watch below.
• Over 70 children and adults from Syros visited the Escape Room during its 4 opening days.

Highlights from the educational activity ''Escape to Knowledge'' are available here: