Sixth grade students work on Egyptian archeological activity during IB lesson

The sixth grade students in Drew Deapo’s individuals and societies classes recently spent a day putting their problem solving skills to good use during an ancient Egyptian escape the classroom activity. The project also tied into the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme.

During the activity, students needed to use Egyptian hieroglyphics to translate five coded messages. Students translated, researched, and solved the clues in order to open an ancient box. In the end, the students discovered the box was filled with a variety of gold chocolates, a gold treasure book and an Egyptian mirror artifact.

“Students said it was a lot of fun,” Deapo said. “It really required some complex thinking and problem solving skills.”

Deapo presented students with a scenario where an archeological dig uncovered a tomb of an ancient pharaoh that was in pristine condition. There was a small locked box inside the tomb and a variety of clues around that could crack the four-digit lock code.

Hollis Frost said he learned a lot during the project including all about hieroglyphics.  

“We also learned about the Great Sphinx, the Nile River and the Egyptian scarab beetle which was a symbol of the Egyptian sun god,” he said.

Dakota Hand also enjoyed the project.

“I think this was an amazing learning experience because we got to solve the codes and the mystery like we were real archeologists,” she said.