During WWII Monopoly game boards, along with other types of games were used to hide small undetectable items such as a tiny compass, files, and silk maps. POW's used the items to escape. When America entered the war, they used the British model to incorporate hidden escape tools into board games through the US Army's Escape and Evasion section, run by the expertise of a Civil Engineer turned Intelligence Officer, Captain, Robley Winfrey.
One way to introduce these documents would be:
1) To ask students to come up with a list of items that might be needed to escape from a POW camp.
2) After a list is generated, I would set out several board
games and ask students to design a way to hide the items within the game.
3) Then, after sharing their plans, I would use the
documents to reveal the actual way items were concealed
This could be done through a variety of formats: student research, power point, short film clip, etc.
Follow up discussion: technology and ingenuity used to develop for these tools
- Subject:
- Education
- History
- Material Type:
- Activity/Lab
- Date Added:
- 07/28/2017