Sunday, February 7, 2021

We Broke Out!

Last week, I had the privilege of being with each of the three fifth grade classes for one period.  I really wanted to revisit coding (on quite the Scratch kick right now!) but it's awfully challenging to code when there is a teacher in the room who knows how to code, it's nearly impossible to teach it remotely.

So my next thought was to teach the kids how to create their own BreakoutEDU rooms.  I mean, how cool would that be?!  To design your own virtual escape rooms?!  But then I realized that the kids haven't done a BreakoutEDU all year.

I had to change that.

Sticking with the coding theme, I created accounts for each student with BreakoutEDU (very cool feature, by the way!) and put three different choices in their class library.  It was super simple to set up, and even simpler for the kids to login.  All they have to do when they get to the BreakoutEDU site is click "login with Google Classroom" and they're in!

The concentration in this group was intense!
Then the kids got to pick a partner, and pick a box.  Each partnership (or trio) went into a breakout room in Google Meet (not to be confused with BreakoutEDU!) and worked together to escape.

Like in Scratch, these BreakoutEDU experiences require perseverance, grit, and determination.  I also like that they demand a different way of thinking, that deeper layer of problem-solving needed for puzzles like this.  

I am pleased to say that of the 12 groups, nine of them broke out, and all the other groups got really close!

P.S.  As the teacher/facilitator, it's always helpful to have the games open to provide clues!  Thank goodness for multiple monitors!

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