In September, Evan Pfeiffer’s eighth-graders at Hornsby Middle School didn’t know they would have a civics teacher that would build them an escape room.
“It’s hard to turn down someone with as much enthusiasm for his students,” said Bill Reinagel, owner of Room Escape Williamsburg, who helped work on the project.
At the start of the school year, Pfeiffer knew he wanted to do something that would incorporate fun and learning for his students. This is Pfeiffer’s first year teaching, and he was excited to have the opportunity to provide a unique educational experience.
As a graduate of William & Mary, Pfeiffer’s familiarity with some of the escape rooms in the area inspired him to build an escape room for his students that required them to use their civics knowledge in a fun way.
“The beauty of something like this is that it combines the competitive aspect with each student’s unique ability, whether it be solving puzzles or working a lock box,” Pfeiffer said.
Pfeiffer received a $1,500 grant from the Williamsburg-James City County Schools Foundation for the project.
Pfeiffer got to work on the escape rooms and enlisted Reinagel to help figure out just how to put everything together.
Pfeiffer spent over 100 hours outside of class putting the project together and building the rooms. He wanted specifically to focus on the documents that inspired the Constitution because that’s what the students were learning in class.
“It’s a challenge to be a teacher these days, but [Pfeiffer] went above and beyond to make something special for his students,” Reinagel said.
With the help of some art students at Hornsby and volunteers from Room Escape Williamsburg, three escape rooms were built in the school’s auditorium for two days.
Before starting the escape room, students watched an instructional video of Pfeiffer explaining the rules while wearing colonial attire in downtown Williamsburg.
Then students in teams of around six had 30 minutes to solve their way out of the room. Most teams didn’t need all of the time, though, Pfeiffer said, with most teams able to escape in about 20 minutes.
“One of the most special takeaways is that several students who may not have been engaged in some of the more traditional work we do in the classroom were able to be engaged,” Pfeiffer said. “I saw students who had never shown interest before come alive and demonstrate they could successfully master some of the content.”
The escape rooms were taken down after two days, and Pfeiffer has the materials in his classroom. With the success of the project, he is excited for the years to come.
“The good thing about this project is that it can be implemented every year in the future,” Pfeiffer said. “This is something I see benefiting students for a long time.”