"Escape the Dungeon" ... a math digital breakout

Escape the Dungeon

Meagan Kelly

TWITTER: @meagan_e_kelly

WEBSITE: I-Heart-Edu

Escape the Dungeon Breakout

Are you ready? This one is mind-blowing. I'm not sure I really truly have my brain wrapped around it. Not completely. BUT ... that is also the fun!

I've been following the creator of this one, Meagan Kelly, for quite some time, and I have to say, she feels REAL. She is a real person, a real educator, a real innovator. I started reading this post more than a year ago, and I literally stopped in my tracks. 

This is awesome!

I opened up the link to the breakout and I began to work through it. I LOVED it! Everything about it ↬ the story line ↬ the challenges of finding the locks ↬ solving the equations ↬ and figuring out my mistakes to correct them ... because I wanted to figure it out! That's the key. I was having fun. When I couldn't remember the formula for area of a right triangle, I Googled it. Bingo!

I'm not sharing this so you have an activity for your students. I'm sharing this because I think the creative power behind building something like this for your students can bring a lot to the table. Let's break it out:

• this one is about area & perimeter --- to solve the problems, students not only have to know (or how to find) the formulas, but they have to apply the formulas & do the computation correctly to solve the lock
• they can fail ... problem solve ... try again ... and so on ... until they've figured it out
• if they get too frustrated with a lock, they can move on and come back
• it is it's own website (built in Google Sites), so it's FREE & easy to share with students
• the locks are all Google Forms, so you can gather data, if you'd like

Check it out. Try to solve the locks. Share it with your students (I'd say it's probably geared towards upper elementary). And then think about how you can take your content, and do the same for your students.

... OR ...

Could you build one WITH your students?

Digital Breakouts You Can Do

Have you wanted to encourage critical, 'out of the box' thinking, and independence, all while having fun doing an activity you do not need to prep for? I have the answer ➙ a digital breakout!

What's a DIGITAL BREAKOUT? Are you familiar with escape rooms? It's the same idea ... just digitally ... and the only time restraints are ones YOU impose.

The beauty of these breakouts are students can work in groups or individually. You can have each group/team work on a specific "lock" and as a class, breakout. Or allow your students to select the breakout they'd like to work on. Then ... sit back & watch the critical thinking skills surface! 

Prep your kiddos for an adventure! Prep them to get their brains ready to "work out"! Remind them, that as a general rule, digital breakouts employ a "theme". Themes can definitely help students find clues or find ways to see how the the clues are connected. Some clues are noticeable, others are hidden in plain sight. [This is also a great time to layer in a discussion about how websites work. You might be surprised how many students know that clicking on words with an underline mean it will take them to another site ... yet, they are afraid to do it!]

***Warning*** This WILL be challenging to some and extremely exciting for others. I keep an eye peeled for students who begin to express extreme frustration. I never want students to get to a point where they want to quit. You have to set the stage for this activity with the idea we are going to challenge their brains. I also have them brainstorm some collaboration tools they might want to try as well as ways to work through frustration. Remember, for some of our students, school is not challenging. They do really well! So when they experience frustration and/or failure, they give up far more easily than the rest of the students who have to work harder.

I never stress the completion of a breakout. It would be ideal to breakout, but I value the process and the attempts and the desire to try FAR more than unlocking all the locks. Each time I've done one with students, I see the little "Aha!'s" and the natural turning and talking and the problem solving happen. And I couldn't be more thrilled!