‘Space prison’ escape room built at Scottish school: students must crack the code to get out
www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/space-prison-escape-room-built-at-scottish-school-students-must-crack-the-code-to-get-out/
www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/space-prison-escape-room-built-at-scottish-school-students-must-crack-the-code-to-get-out/
A group of students at Elgin Academy, Moray, Scotland, will today be inviting their peers to visit the escape room they designed, which has now been built at their school, and challenging participants to solve the maths puzzles in order to get out.
Taking part in the Cracking the Code competition, run by Nesta, the innovation foundation, in partnership with Tata group and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the students were asked to design their own ‘crystal maze’ style escape room by coming up with a storyline and a series of maths puzzles that must be solved to get out. The team were selected as winners at an event held at The Crystal in London in June where 9 teams of finalists presented their escape room designs to a panel of judges.
The group of 11-14 year olds, going by the name of HMS Supernova, set its escape room scenario in a space prison of the future, where prisoners are held and then ejected out into space. Having been framed for a crime, the escape room player must solve the puzzles in time in order to avoid being lost in space forever. Their design has now been turned into reality with the help of the Problem Solving Company.
The Cracking the Code competition is a part of the Maths Mission, a series of pilots seeking to find the most effective ways to increase young people’s interest in maths, and improve their collaborative problem-solving skills. In its first year, 118 schools registered for the competition from across the UK, with 400 students participating, consisting of 41% boys and 59% girls.
Currently the UK is not as good at maths as it should be. Maths is the foundation of learning and achievement in science, technology and engineering, yet UK teenagers came 27th in the OECD’s most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) international rankings for Maths.
Joysy John, Director of Education at Nesta, said, “With Cracking the Code we wanted to show students just what you can achieve if you mix maths with creativity and teamwork. A survey of the finalists showed that 100% of the students involved reported the competition had helped them to see how maths can be applied usefully and in a new context. Schools can make learning maths more interesting if we get students to solve problems in interesting contexts while helping them build important skills to make them future ready.”
Lynne Weir, Elgin Academy’s Principal Teacher of Mathematics, said, "To believe and try something new and different is courageous and makes me extremely proud of Josh, Carrie, Kelly, Jonathan and Lexi. Very much an innovative and hardworking team, they are a credit to the Academy and their families. This is an exciting opportunity for all our young people to realise that if they work hard, there are great rewards out there."
Cllr Sonya Warren, Chair of Moray Council’s Children & Young People’s Services Committee, said, “The pupils’ success in the national competition was a proud moment for all involved.It’s testament to the hard work, teamwork and creativity of HMS Supernova, not forgetting the inspirational teaching staff supporting them every step of the way. They all deserve special recognition and I hope every pupil that experiences the space prison escape room thoroughly enjoys it.”
David Landsman, Executive Director, Tata Limited, said “I’ve been looking forward to the opportunity to visit Elgin Academy and congratulate the team in person for their achievement in designing the winning escape room. From what I saw, they really enjoyed the experience. But for us at Tata, there’s a serious point too: cracking the maths code provides the opportunity to “escape” into many different great careers. Our businesses range from salt to steel, tea to IT, premium cars and luxury hotels. In every one, our colleagues use maths at work every day. I hope the Elgin Academy team will be a great example of what young people can do with maths, and what maths can do for you.”
The next round of Cracking the Code will be launching early next year. For more information please contact [email protected]
-ENDS-
For more information contact Juliet Grant in Nesta’s press office on 020 7438 2668 or 07866 949047, [email protected]
Notes to editors:
About the Maths Mission
Tata, in partnership with Nesta, ran a series of pilot programmes across the UK to find the most effective ways to increase young people’s interest in maths, and improve their maths and collaborative problem-solving skills. The Maths Mission pilots ran through the academic year 2017-2018.
The aim was to change attitudes and increase attainment in maths, promoting the subject as a practical and engaging problem-solving tool.
Tata and Nesta worked together to implement the following Maths Mission pilots:
The Maths Mission pilots focused on nurturing an interest in - and love of - maths and problem-solving outside the formal educational curriculum. Each tackled the issue working with a key group - whether it be parents, students or teachers, and has a strong focus on developing collaborative skills through peer-to-peer activities.
Going into its second year the Maths Mission will continue to support young maths mentors, launch a second round of the UK-wide maths competition, Cracking the Code, and will give support to new innovations in the area of parental engagement.
About Nesta
Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833.
About Tata group
Having established Tata Limited in 1907 to represent the group in Europe, Tata now has 19 companies operating across the continent, with a combined workforce of over 65,000. These companies include: Jaguar Land Rover; Tata Steel Europe; Tata Motors; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); Tata Global Beverages (including Tetley Tea); Tata Chemicals and Taj Hotels. European markets with a key Tata presence include; the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands
About Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 385,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $17.58 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com
