Thinking outside of the Box--Using the lock box as investigative tool -- Jeff Brigham

This year we were encouraged to look into the new Breakout lock boxes, available through the media center, by our local TIF, Mr. Desi Vuillaume.  My advisory partner, Dave Drzonek and I went to the media center and saw that the boxes were pre-programmed for a fun investigation into Carl Sandburg High School.  Since we have a freshman advisory we figured it would be a great way for our students to learn about the history and geography of the school.  The lock boxes have a series of four locks that have both alpha and numeric answers.  The students must work in groups to go through a series of clues that will result in an answer that is a number, word or direction.  The directional lock is my personal favorite.  Students must open the first small box to access a blacklight that will lead them to another clue.  We used it in advisory and the winning team was able to open the box with about five minutes left in class.  Only two of the four groups were able to figure it out, so it is quite a mental challenge.  The students loved the activity and the sweet prize that was in the box for the winners.

After seeing the success and teamwork that was displayed by our advisory class, we wondered if there was a way to incorporate it into our curriculum with our freshman world history classes.  The challenge was creating our own clues.  However, once I began to puzzle out how we could use the activity I actually enjoyed the challenge of coming up with the clues.  We were going on a field trip and wanted to use the last hour after we returned for a learning activity.  We had the classes split up into four teams and each of the teams had six tasks that they had to complete for a competition.  One of the six competitions was the Breakout lock box.  Each group had to assign different students to each task so the Breakout lock box group had five per box.  For setup, you bring the clues to the media center at least two days before the event so that they have time to set up the locks.   The quickest group was able to open their box in 15 minutes which was very impressive.  Here are the clues for those of you that want a challenge.  Even if you use google some knowledge of history is required.

3 number lock--in this year the eternal cities lights went out  

4 number lock--In this year the lord of the grass burst out on the world as the great conqueror

Word lock--This man put Marx's dream into practice after a long train ride from Germany

Directional lock--

This is the directions that Columbus Sailed

This is the direction of the Monsoon Winds in Summer

This is the direction the Bantu migrated in Africa

This is the direction that the Chinese magnetic compass pointed

A cruel wind blew in this direction with the name Barbarossa

This is a great activity for all involved