Today’s hottest activity is the Escape Room, where you and a team of friends collaborate to solve a series of puzzles in order to escape the room in one hour. The team at BreakoutEDU recognized the learning potential and built a system to bring the escape room to your classroom.
I have hosted several BreakoutEDU puzzles in my classroom this year, using boxes I built out of dollar store purchases. Students build collaboration skills, focus on critical thinking, and engage with the curriculum, all while having a great time competing against their classmates.
Each box has a series of puzzles to solve in order to unlock the box. The challenges range from easy to difficult, and the group sizes can vary from small groups to whole class puzzles. You can create your own boxes and challenges or you can use prepared puzzles from BreakoutEDU. Students can even create their own boxes to challenge their classmates.
My students have enjoyed our Breakout Challenges. I’ve used some as team building activities at the beginning of the year, some as introductory lessons to introduce students to new concepts, and some as extension activities to encourage increased understanding. The BreakoutEDU experience is definitely worth the effort!
If you’re interested in hosting a BreakoutEDU session in your classroom and would like access to the premade puzzles online, email me at mklodor@scsrockets.org
