These physics escape rooms were created and developed by Reiss Luke as part of his Master of Physics project in 2021/22. The escape rooms were run in 7 different schools across the North East of England, with 250 students participating in 9 weeks. At the end of the project, all the resources have been published for free here, to enable further engagement.

The physics escape rooms use the KS3 physics curriculum in a series of puzzles and codes, utilising students’ problem solving skills and physics knowledge, to save the day.

Year group: year 9 or 10

Group size: 10-15 ideally, but can work with larger groups (ideal for a STEM club)

There are two distinct physics escape rooms to choose from:

• Nuclear Powerplant Meltdown
• Disaster Strikes a Martian Colony

User Instruction Packs, provide you with all the resources as well as instructions on the preparation and delivery of the session.  The only things you need are scissors and a printer!

Downloadable Resources

Each Escape room has resources to run with:

• digital props which only requires the use of a printer and scissors (virtual lockbox codes are checked using a PowerPoint interface)
• physical props (lockboxes, keys, padlocks, UV torch etc,)

Feedback

Evaluation of how our activities are being used and your feedback is very important for helping us improve our resources, develop future resources and demonstrate impact.

We would really appreciate it if you could let us know how you used our Escape Rooms, and give us feedback on your experience. The feedback form only takes 2 minutes to complete and is massive help.

Facilitation by Newcastle University

If you are a school (or other group) in the area local to Newcastle University, we may be able to deliver one of our Physics Escape Rooms for you.

If you would like us to facilitate the running of an Escape Room or have any questions please email us on physics.outreach@newcastle.ac.uk.