A Polling Predicament

It is Election Day. Your students are working as officials with the Australian Electoral Commission at a polling place in their local area. All day long, members of the community have been exercising their democratic right by casting votes. When the polls close at 6 pm and everyone makes their way home, the real excitement awaits as the votes are counted.

The electorate is keen to discover who their newly elected representative will be but, wait… a problem unfolds! The ballot boxes have been sealed with a password to ensure the votes are kept secret. Your students will only be able to open the ballot boxes, count the votes and reveal the new Member of Parliament if they can uncover what the secret password is before 6 pm!

Welcome to ‘A Polling Predicament’, an escape-room-style game based around Australia’s voting system and its history. This activity places students in the driver’s seat as they work together to solve challenges that will help them uncover the secret password and unlock the ballot boxes before counting is due to begin!

Easy to Implement Escape Room Fun!

This resource has been thoughtfully designed and created by an experienced teacher who gets it – you don’t want to have to spend time sorting out stations and areas for an epic escape room activity – and you don’t have to. This downloadable Civics and Citizenship escape room has everything you need!

The resource contains:

• Teacher Handbook – This provides preparation and implementation information for the teacher, as well as those highly sought-after challenge codes.
• Interactive Presentation – This contains the challenges the students must complete. There are six challenges in total.
• Student Workbook – This is where students will record their answers to each challenge, and use the clues to decipher the final code word.
• Answers PDF – This very secret document is for the teacher’s eyes only!

The challenges address the following concepts:

• Line ‘Em Up – Determine who can and can’t be an Australian electoral candidate.
• Who Votes? – Determine which personas can and can’t vote in Australian elections.
• Shh, It’s a Secret! – Identify the correct description of the Secret Ballot voting system.
• Fill the Gap – Identify the correct words from the word bank to complete the passage about Australia’s voting history.
• Time Travel – Complete the timeline of significant events in Australia’s voting history.

Hot Tip: If possible, provide each group with access to the presentation on their own device. This will allow each group to work through the challenges at their own pace.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

The dropdown menu contains a range of files that you will need to successfully implement this escape room activity. 

• Teacher Instructions (PDF)
• Interactive Activity (Google Slides)
• Student Workbook (Google Slides or PDF)
• Answers (PDF)

Happy escaping!

This resource was created by Caitlyn Phillips, a Teach Starter collaborator.

Click below for more student-centred resources to use when teaching Australian Government to your students!

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