Escape Student Disengagement with Breakout Challenges

Sometimes you have to think outside of the box to step up your student interventions. Other times you have to take that thought and lock it in the box. Escape rooms are popular group adventure entertainment among adults and now they are becoming common classroom experiences. For school counselors, escape rooms can be an exciting way to help students understand and practice social/emotional skills.

If you aren’t familiar with the concept, escape rooms are a set of puzzles and clues that a team works together to solve in order to complete an overall goal. The goal may be to unlock a door or a box, or to solve a mystery. A thorough escape room will have a creative storyline to engage the participants. You can purchase escape room lessons online or you can create your own (that is a whole other article). Escape rooms can come in all sorts of variations. Most escape rooms from Teachers Pay Teachers don’t even require a lock, working more like a scavenger hunt. Other more expensive kits can be found online including lock boxes and other novelty items to enhance the experience. If you work at a one-to-one school, another option is all-digital escape rooms that require nothing more than the student’s computer. Either way, escape room activities are usually slightly more time consuming in the planning stage, but the learning outcomes are worth it.

Why should go through all the prep work for an escape room? Incorporating one into your classroom lessons or small groups can have a multitude of benefits.

• Escape rooms are intrinsically engaging and promote teambuilding. Students who are typically disengaged in the classroom may be more motivated because solving the puzzles has a tangible purpose of opening a lock or finding the next clue.
• With everyone working towards the same goal students are often more prosocial during the activity, especially useful for any social skills group.
• The variation in puzzles and clues can play well to different skill levels and learning styles.
• The skills that can be practiced and developed through escape rooms can even foster resiliency.
• Students can practice self-regulation skills in real time as they learn how to work through frustration without becoming overwhelmed or giving up.

Also, they are a lot of fun and your students are going to think you are awesome.

With this more dynamic lesson format, here are some things to keep in mind to help make it successful and impactful.

1. Provide ways for students to ask questions or get hints. If students get stuck for too long, frustration can turn to defeat and you are no longer helping them build resiliency.
2. Be clever with hints, keeping student abilities in mind, so students are still able to have the satisfaction of solving the problem themselves.
3. Remember the debrief – an important part of the process. Make sure to allow time to review the content they experienced during the escape but also take time to point out the skills they displayed while escaping. In my experience, escape rooms can bring out the best in students and you are able to give them specific and immediate feedback on social or coping skills. It is really fun to see the confidence they have after escaping.

If you are not ready to jump right into an escape room with your students, start by taking an individual puzzle and use it as an icebreaker or mini team-building activity. Work your way into it slowly and before you know it, you might even be creating your own escape room lessons. The possibilities for learning, skill building and fun are endless when you incorporate escape rooms into your work with students!

Contact Amanda Bender, SDSCA president, at Amanda.Bender@k12.sd.us.