Economics' great escape room brings enriched subject to life

By Kristian Partridge

‘A pandemic is ravaging the UK and the only way to save the nation is by completing our Economics Escape Room!’ This was the tagline of the Economics-themed Escape Room, a competition in which UCS Senior School pupils of all ages vied to complete six sections, post the fastest escape time, and learn some Economics concepts in the process.

The Escape Room was entitled ‘Covid23’ and designed to stir student interest in Economics within a fun and engaging environment. Participating in groups of four or five, the pupils had to navigate their way through six sections, acting out and influencing decisions taken by UK government departments and working against the clock to solve the attendant puzzles, find the code for a vaccine and escape with the fastest time.

The sessions lasted 25 minutes each and attracted teams from Year 7 upwards in pursuit of both the best time and a monetary prize for the eventual winners. The winning group were the appropriately named ‘Calculated Victory’, with their time of 16 minutes and 30 seconds. The Escape Room took place across several lunchtimes during a recent Economics, Geography, History and Politics Enrichment Week.

The participants enjoyed the thrill of the different interactive and mental challenges built into the Escape Room, with every group of competitors able to take something away from the experience.

Organisers Kristian Partridge, Jack Harding, Jamie Abehsera-Cohen and Jackson Neumann-Naimski, all Year 12 students, said: “We thank all participating groups for showing interest in the Escape Room and taking their time to compete and learn some Economic themes. The ‘Covid23’ team thoroughly enjoyed the organisation and the design of this project, and we highly recommend it as an enrichment activity.”

Pasan Fernando, Head of Economics at UCS, added: “I was seriously impressed by the creativity, hard work, and dedication demonstrated by these students in creating the Economics Escape Room. The seamless coordination of logistics and the ability to make Economics come alive for those who participated was remarkable.”