14. F2S Sea-to-Sky

Project Description

Note: This project will take place online and in person. Students will be encouraged to meet in person to create materials and to run through the escape room activities to ensure their functionality.

Context: What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

Farm to School BC is hosting its inaugural Farm to School BC Conference: Planting the Seed, on May 17th–19th, 2023 at the NEST on the UBC Campus in Vancouver. The goal of the conference is to connect educators, community partners, students, public health professionals, school district staff and growers to share knowledge, develop connections, and celebrate food literacy initiatives in schools.

The conference will include a fun and interactive Escape Room that integrates hands-on food systems activities and provides educators with inspiration and ideas of activities to integrate the themes of food literacy into their classrooms. An escape room “is a popular [teambuilding] activity which can be done by several participants. Locked in a room symbolizing a closed place (a castle, a pirate ship, an Egyptian pyramid, a prison, a distant planet, etc.), the participants must work together to investigate and solve the puzzles that will allow them to escape in a limited time” - The Escape Kit.

The games often require cooperation, problem-solving, riddles and more. After participating in an Escape Room, the F2SBC team dreamed of bringing a Food systems-themed Escape Room to the Conference and we would love your help to make that dream come true! The Escape Room at the conference will not be the exact format of the typical escape room. We will provide you with specific constraints (i.e. time limit, space available, ideal amount of participants) as well as ideas on hands-on food literacy activities that could be incorporated.

The Working Group supporting this project is a team of Community Animators from F2SBC who are teachers, growers, and food systems enthusiasts from around the province. We need you to help us bring these ideas to life by designing engaging and creative Escape Room activities that incorporate place-based knowledge and different accessibility considerations (i.e., physical accessibility, different learning and communication styles). Your challenge is to energize and inspire conference attendees through hands-on learning! The escape room will provide an experiential opportunity for participants to engage in place-based, hands-on learning that will compliment many of the conference topics speaking to the values of these learning techniques. Conferences are often information overload and can sometimes lose participants amidst the information-heavy sessions and workshops.

We hope this Escape Room will provide an opportunity for participants to utilize a different part of their brain and participate in hands-on activities, which is the core of the work we do at F2SBC. Conferences are a great way to network, but it can sometimes be challenging to find the chance to connect more meaningfully. We think that an Escape Room, where participants have to work together to reach a shared goal, is a fun and engaging way to deepen relationships with people you already know, or form bonds with those you have just met.

Main Project Activities and Deliverables

• Web search to identify some key components of Escape Rooms and tips to make them successful
• Design escape room problems, riddles and activities based on and connecting the core themes of the conference and integrating place-based components when relevant
• Test escape room activities to ensure their functionality (e.g. with your TA's permission, during tutorial time with other students)
• Create materials for escape room activities
• Develop a budget for materials
• Create a how-to guide for teachers to replicate the escape room activities in their classrooms
• Facilitate the escape room activities (optional due to date of conference)

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

• Creativity and ability to think outside the box
• Communication skills
• Experience or interest in K-12 education and designing educational activities
• Experience or interest in facilitating activities with youth and adults
• Escape room experience (asset)
• Materials creation

Are there any mandatory attendance dates (e.g. special event)?

• No. However, if any of the students are interested in volunteering to help lead the Escape Room at the conference in May they are more than welcome to!

Is a criminal record search (CRS) required?

• No

How much self-direction is expected from the students?

• Deciding on the project deliverable(s): Led by community partner
• Developing the activity plan and timeline: Mostly led by students, with some community partner input
• Scheduling and initiating the communication plan (e.g. weekly Zoom check-in, biweekly email update, etc.): Equal leadership between students and community partner
• Implementing the activity plan (e.g. surveying stakeholder groups): Mostly led by students, with some community partner input
• Finalizing the deliverable(s): Equal leadership between students and community partner

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

Students are welcome to volunteer as facilitators of the Escape Room at the conference in May.

Required Reading

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review the following materials prior to the first partner meeting. Additional orientation materials may be provided at the first partner meeting.

• F2SBC website: www.farmtoschoolbc.ca
• Conference website
• BC Curriculum Overview

Additional Resources

• https://theescapegame.com/blog/what-is-an-escape-room/