Based on the popular “Escape the Room” activities, Breakout boxes are a great way to bring gaming into the classroom in a meaningful and fun way.

Learners are given a box locked with different combination locks (shapes, colors, letters, directions, numbers). Using clues provided by the facilitator, learners must solve physical and online puzzles, riddles, and mysteries to unlock the box within a certain time.

Learners need to be creative, collaborate and communicate with one another, and use critical thinking skills.

From the Breakout EDU website (https://platform.breakoutedu.com/), “Breakout EDU activities challenge students to analyze, synthesize, and apply knowledge in novel ways. They promote a “fail-forward” approach where students are encouraged to work through productive struggle. Students develop grit perseverance and learn to re-evaluate as they problem solve”.

Game scenarios can be used to teach core academic subjects such as match, science, history, and language arts and are aligned with common core state standards.

Comments from 5^th graders: 

The games make you think more .

They make you smarter. 

They are fun! 

I like physically opening the locks.

I like reading the clues.

I like using different tools to solve the puzzles.

Remarks from a 5^th grade teacher, “I like the ability to collaborate with our librarian/media specialist to reinforce state standards with a hands-on activity that encourages collaboration, creativity, communication, critical thinking, responsibility, and resiliency. These activities also serve to act as both 1) support for lagging skills and 2) enrichment for learners who have already shown proficiency at said current standards. As an additional plus, the kids just like them!

The pictures are from a Fifth-Grade class of Nathan Cariveau.  The Librarian who submitted the mini grant proposal is Heidi Gieser.  The students are working on a problem top help a friend plan her birthday party using math.