Once teams solved the riddle, they collecteda notecard from the instructors. The notecards, when combined, described the location of the lockbox and the password that was needed to gain access to it; however, the notecards appeared to be blank because the directions were written in invisible ink. When teams used the UV light on the pen in their pouches, they were able to see their portion of the clue. In order to gain access to the lockbox, students had to give a password to the person hiding the box. Upon receiving the box, which was also locked, students discovered they needed to assemble the 3D puzzle in order to find the combination for that final lock.
Figure 3. Assembling the 3D puzzle
Figure 4. Reverse side of 3D puzzle showing lock code
Once unlocked, victory was sweet! The Harry Potter theme continued as the lockbox was full of molded chocolate frogs!
Tech Tools ExplainedOnce the path was determined, we researched tech tools that would best help us organize each step. We utilized the following tools to assist us in developing our breakout session.
Voki is a free, online tool that enables creation of animated videos. Videos can use a variety of caricature and one’s own voice or a selection of computer voices. The program was used to create a welcome video (linked earlier) to announce the mission for our students and set our Harry Potter inspired mood.
This app, formerly known as Aurasma, provides an augmented reality experience thatlinks trigger images to other content. If you are familiar with a QR Code, it is similar to using a picture as a QR code. In our session, we used Harry Potter inspired images to link to different videos and images of literacy instruction. The students recorded their answers to questions about the linked videos in a Google form.
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