Mirror Opens Ancient Temple Door. (ePub)

I have produced a fictitious short story about how Lara and Alexander - the two archaeologists, found the elusive El Dorado temple and unearthed the Golden Mask.

In this resource - including the exciting legend of the elusive city of El Dorado - I look at the story, the gold, the treasure, the golden mask, and a modern-day escape room. I provide prompts for using technology - in the context of creating an El Dorado-themed escape room. Inspired by my visit to an escape room in Hamilton (NZ) in December 2023, I show how technology, like digital sensors, surveillance cameras, and more, could be used in escape rooms. I use a simple microprocessor - like the Arduino Uno - to show how this microprocessor could detect light and switch a rack and pinion - powered by an electric motor - to open a door. Just like Lara and Alexander opened the door by reflecting the shaft of daylight from the cave roof onto the mirrors and the Sun motif. I use the Arduino, an LDR (light-dependent resistor), a relay, and an electric motor to show how a door in an escape room can be opened.

This resource could be helpful to teachers and students. The focus is integrating different subject areas for a lesson for high school students. For example, the brief is to design an El Dorado-themed escape room. I focus on technical aspects like art, design, and electronics (digital sensors, surveillance cameras, servos, racks and pinons, and more) to detect, switch and move doors.

The focus is also on how to create a light sensor (LDR - light-dependent resistor) to detect when a mirror reflects light that suddenly comes from a crack in the cave (an electrical light switched on after a symbolic puzzle is solved).

Improving and developing collaboration and solving real-life problems is another aspect I investigate. I look at the design of a board game-context: Escape room. Developing creative and innovative skills of students and teachers.

I also touch on renewable systems: Installing solar panels, wind turbines, inverters, and 12 Volt (DC) batteries - on a micro-scale - to power an escape room or a model of an escape room.

Lastly, I provide links to cave ecosystems. I include the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand (famous glowworms).

See the ideas and concepts for possible lessons for students in this article. It is challenging to layer, embed, and integrate different subject areas into one or a set of lessons.