<Leveraging ChatGPT in Teaching and Learning - The Escape Room Version>

Year-end Task: Create an Escape Room to engage students after their final exams

Trailblazer
Edwin Dazhong’s sharing on how he created an Escape Room based in his primary school with the help of ChatGPT. I didn’t realise ChatGPT can create such localised stories. The most important takeaway I gleaned from his sharing is sharing a good source of information so that ChatGPT can work its magic.

My Work Flow
1. Co-created a synopsis of “One Piece” with ChatGPT. Fun fact: The author of One Piece is from Kumamoto. He donated lots of money to help Kumamoto recover from an earthquake - so much so that the mayor constructed 10 One Piece statues all over Kumamoto to thank him.

2. Used Pictory.AI to turn my synopsis into a video. (Kapwing would have been better, but I used up my free trials alas.) It’s uploaded here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_HXnqWVmY

3. Used Dall.E to generate surreally beautiful images

4. Used ChatGPT to create a three-part Escape Room. Since I’m a language person, my challenges are literacy-based - rebus puzzles, riddles and Wordle puzzles. I will share my prompts below so that you may learn from my experience.

My Prompts
1. Can you create an escape room story based on One Piece (Netflix live adaptation)? Look here for reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece_(2023_TV_series). The story should have three parts.

2. I need to downscale the scope of the escape room. Give me another escape room story. It should include three parts and culminate in the characters entering the Grand Line Gate (the finale). Do you understand me?

3. Escape Room Story: The Grand Line Gate Adventure
Part 1: Log Pose Quest
Setting: The adventurers find themselves in a pirate's hideout, surrounded by maps, navigational tools, and a mysterious log pose.
Part 2: Skypiea's Clues
Setting: The adventurers arrive in an ancient temple on Skypiea, filled with puzzles and artifacts.
Part 3: The Grand Line Gate Challenge
Setting: The adventurers stand before a massive gate, inscribed with cryptic symbols.
I want you to now come up with a quest for the Escape Room so that students know what they are in for.

4. Make this simpler so that students of reading age 11 can access. Write this in one paragraph

5. Use this dingbat worksheet as a reference. I need you to put on your thinking cap and give me a dingbat that corresponds to "ancient".

6. I need a riddle whose answer starts with P.

7. For the last challenge, I need a five-letter word for Wordle to stretch my students’ brains. Comb through the One Piece story and give me 10 5-letter words that have to go with One Piece characters finding treasure.

8. I am making a maze out of a cardboard. I need you to suggest a message of 7 words that I can write on the cardboard so that students can find their way out and arrive at the Grand Line Gate.

9. I am getting students to play Wordle. They need to guess a five-letter word correctly in order to open the Grand Line Gate. The word is 'prize'. I need you to come up with a clue related to One Piece so that students can guess the word correctly.

Limitations (in ChatGPT's own words)
1. I'm unable to provide live links or browse the internet in real-time. However, you can easily find websites with a variety of dingbats by doing a quick internet search.
2. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding, but I don't have the capability to view or access external files, including worksheets.
3. I apologize for the confusion. It seems that I'm having difficulty creating a dingbat that clearly represents "ancient."

Final Thoughts
I’m so proud of myself. I never thought I could create an Escape Room, much less in two days!
I spent a lot of time trying to prompt ChatGPT to create dingbats/rebus puzzles. Eventually, I realised that it doesn’t have the ability to do so yet. So, I turned to a rebus puzzle generator. I think I overestimated ChatGPT’s abilities. Having a more realistic understanding of its capabilities would help me to alleviate my frustration and work even faster.
Nevertheless, it churned out riddles (rhyming ones!) and suggestions for Wordle puzzles instantaneously. Count me impressed.

Hope this helps all the English teachers out there! 💪