For the past few months, every time I log onto Facebook or Instagram, I find myself staring at photos of my friends escaping. And before you jump to any colorful conclusions about my inner circle, no, my friends are not felons. (Well...most aren’t, anyway.) Instead, it seems like many people featured in my social media world have bought-into the whole Escape Room craze that is sweeping trendy towns all around the region. (Red Bank, New Jersey, I’m looking at you!) In a nutshell, Escape Rooms happen when a team of people willingly signs up to be locked in a room in order to find clues and solve puzzles to complete a given mission and find the key to escape. And now I notice that when I log onto Twitter, I see that in the world of education, escaping is at the center of countless conversations! In school buildings everywhere, teams of students are working together to solve complex problems in order to “Escape their Classrooms.” Even better, platforms like Breakout Edu provide teachers with amazing ideas and options for gamifying their classrooms that are literally ready-to use. (Be sure to check out the Breakout Edu Sandbox options for digital games HERE!) And while these pre-made games are fun and challenging, many of the teachers I talk to really want to create games that are tailored specifically to their needs and subject-areas. Most have an overall game idea in mind, but when it comes to creating the clues, they are at a loss. So here is the challenge: How can teachers create breakout clues that are relevant to what students are learning in their classrooms and connect these clues to the different types of locks? So, I think I may have locked into something: a list of ideas for creating clues and challenges that can work in any subject area, with any unit, and most importantly...with any lock: DIRECTION LOCKS
COLOR LOCKS
DATE LOCKS
SIMPLE NUMBER LOTS
WORD LOCKS
Do you have any other ideas for creating clues that can work in a classroom escape game? Please tweet me @JenFischer18 and I will include them in this post!
7 Comments
Jeremy Mikla
12/15/2016 09:02:23 am
Great Ideas. Going into my folder of BreakoutEDU materials. Thanks for sharing!
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jt
2/14/2019 11:19:26 am
shut up boy
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Valerie Ratcliff
8/16/2017 06:39:04 pm
such helpful ideas! thanks so much!
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3/15/2019 01:43:20 pm
If I need help on the answer what website will I go to, to get the answer?
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AuthorJennifer Fischer is a former middle school English teacher, full-time instructional coach, and part-time edtech nerd, who strives to help next JENeration educators transform learning for all students.
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