Session 1 · SOLVE: Verify
Fix and prove
- 10 minLook at the test results. Which locks were solved first time? Which were too easy or too hard?
- 25 minFix each lock. Write a short proof on the answer key showing why the answer is the only one (for example list every factor, or show the GEMA steps).
- 15 minFull dress rehearsal with a new test group. Check the timing: can a team finish in 30–40 minutes?
Session 2 · SOLVE: Explain
Codebreakers Week
- 10 minSet up the room: locks, envelopes, hint cards and the 'how it works' posters.
- 30 minRun the escape room for another class or whānau. Each group hosts one lock, gives hints when asked and explains the maths afterwards.
- 10 minReflect: what pattern in numbers surprised you most? What would you add to the escape box before it travels to another school?
Getting started
Host a lock with a partner and use a prompt card to explain the maths to visitors.
Stretch
Package the escape room as a box with instructions and send it to a partner school, with a feedback form.
Checkpoint
The escape room has run with a real audience, and each lock has a checked answer key and a written explanation of its maths.
Useful this week
- Order of operations ↗ Check each lock's calculation follows the agreed order.
- Public key encryption ↗ A classroom activity showing how the internet keeps secrets using maths.
- Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search ↗ The story of the largest known prime and how volunteers hunt for new ones.
- Bletchley Park ↗ The home of the codebreakers who cracked Enigma.