Building a classroom Escape Room

Vanessa Cramer and John Bullington

Shenendehowa CSD

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Why Breakouts?

Encourages students to

• Collaborate & Communicate
• Problem Solve
• Think Critically
• Recall Content
• Draw Conclusions

Breakouts are a high engagement activity that students love.

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Escape rooms are becoming increasingly popular as an educational tool to help students develop critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. These games typically require participants to solve a series of puzzles and clues within a set time limit in order to "escape" from a themed room or scenario.

Educators have found that incorporating escape rooms into the classroom can be an effective way to engage students and promote learning. Here are some ways in which escape rooms can be used in education:

1. Reinforcing lesson concepts: Escape rooms can be designed around specific subjects or topics to reinforce lesson concepts. For example, a history class might create an escape room around a specific period in history, with puzzles related to key events and figures.
2. Team building: Escape rooms require teamwork and collaboration in order to solve the puzzles and escape in time. This can help students build communication and problem-solving skills, as well as foster a sense of community within the classroom.
3. Assessment: Escape rooms can be used as a form of assessment, with students demonstrating their understanding of a subject or concept by successfully completing the puzzles and clues within a given time frame.
4. Reinforcing soft skills: Escape rooms can also help students develop soft skills such as perseverance, patience, and creativity, as they work through challenges and obstacles to reach their goal.

Overall, escape rooms can be a fun and engaging way to promote learning and reinforce key concepts in the classroom. By incorporating them into their teaching practices, educators can help students develop a range of skills that will benefit them both academically and in their future endeavors.

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CHAT GPT explains escape rooms in education

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Knowing how to escape helps you design.

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Escape from 80’s Pop Culture

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80’s Pop Culture

you wake up to the sound of your alarm clock blaring “don’t stop believing” by journey at an unbelievably loud volume. there must be a february storm outside as you hear the Ice hitting the window. as you stumble into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of folgers coffee, you reach over and turn the tv On and change the dial to channel 13 to watch the morning news. the news is providing coverage of the first space shuttle launch. it’s at this point that you are finally starting to realize that due to some Miracle you are back in the 1980’s. explore everything the 1980’s have to offer in order to find the phrase that will get you home.

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Oregon Trail

Ditch that textbook

OR

Completely online using google forms - Try one of the following

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Creating your own Breakout Rooms- Tips, Tricks and Resources

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Steps to a successful Breakout

1. Make sure that you have a story connecting the clues together. Students need a WHY. Try to make it a situation that puts them into a role.
2. Puzzle them. A combination of easy and harder clues should lead them to the final outcomes. Scaffold your puzzles so some lead to the next clue. Doing this allows them to find clues that they can’t solve until they accomplish a previous puzzle.
3. Produce the materials. The more professional and themed the puzzles and product are the more fun they will have.

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How to….Cypher Puzzle

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How to make replica items

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Other types of puzzles...

Snote

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Resources

Curated list of tools, puzzles and replicas for Breakouts

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Lock Paper Scissors

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Ideas for Buying Kit Parts

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Breakout.edu

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Folder containing all our Materials

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40+ Free escape rooms Matt Miller “Ditch that textbook”

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15 Best free online escape rooms

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More ideas on Facebook group --- Escape Room Idea Discussion

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Evaluate Us

Eval - https://bit.ly/shenpdevfo2

Please complete the following evaluation. It should only take 5 minutes to complete. Class name is breakout.edu

bit.ly/shentwai

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Mess in Mesopotamia

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How to Run a breakout in a classroom

Let’s take a trip to Mesopotamia!

Mesopotamia breakout

Click on the link below

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There’s a one-story house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls, yellow doors, yellow furniture. What color are the stairs?

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Brain Break

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There aren’t any stairs…it’s a one-story house!!!

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Did You Say…

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Digital Breakout - How well do you know your teachers?

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Is your brain ready to break out again?!?!?!?!

This time it is a completely digital breakout

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You kids think you know music! We, your teachers, are astounded by some of the awful stuff you listen to. We have decided to teach you a lesson, in music! We have locked the classroom door. You will not escape until you uncover the password that opens the door. In order to get the password, you must solve 6 puzzles. You will put your answers in a google form. When you complete the Google Form correctly, you will open the door. The class that opens all the locks the fastest wins! Go to the MAIN ROOM and begin.

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Main Room

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