Ever since I first heard about BreakoutEdu on Facebook, I loved the idea and I could not wait to try it out with my students! But I wanted to experience it firsthand to get a sense of how it worked and see if it lived up to my expectations. In May, I attended the GAFE Summit in London Ontario and I had the chance to try it out with a group of educators and it lived up to my expectations. As we worked through a session, I could see the collaboration, problems solving and engagement happening in the room and I wanted my students to experience it as well.
Before the end of the year, I decided to give it a try and put together a game for the last week of the school. I checked out the Breakout EDU site and adapted the game The Candy Caper designed by Kern Kelley and Kaidan Kelley, designed for 4th graders. The premise of the game is: “The custodian has asked all teachers to keep their class in their rooms for a few minutes to do work in the hallway. They didn’t say why, but it turns out the lunch ladies hid some candy and they were hoping to be the first to find it! They left the class clues to be able to find the candy before the custodian does!”
I adapted the game to include some of the content we had just covered in science and to meet the needs of my classroom. For example, the original game had the students use a Google Form but I changed it to include a Nearpod clue instead. The first clue had the students log on to Nearpod, which displayed a series of directions which instructed students to complete questions related our unit on plants before obtaining their next clue.
As was recommended at the GAFE summit, I had 10 students work on the task. The other 10 students watched and I had them prepare to give the other group feedback on what they saw students doing well, and something they felt the other group could improve upon (two stars and a wish) which is a strategy for giving feedback that my students are familiar with. The students really enjoyed the experience and the excitement of breaking out could be heard from afar!
Reflections for Next Time: New Learning
If I was to do this again (and I will) I would have 2 games going simultaneously, although the clues would be slightly different so the groups do not copy from each other. As well, my class has a lot of experience working together and communicating effectively so these skills definitely helped out with the game. Still it was very interesting to see the dynamics and how students responded and worked together through the challenges. It really addresses the learning skills that we report to on our report cards in Ontario.
What’s next for Breakout EDU for me?
I also see great potential in using Breakout EDU in professional development. This is a great opportunity to have staff working together at the start of the year when often there is review of general administrative policies that need to be discussed. These meetings can often be very long and not engaging and Breakout Edu presents an opportunity to change that! In addition, our school is working on a Ministry grant with STEAM and maker spaces so we are hoping to use the Breakout EDU to build knowledge among the staff and with students in the school next year.
Also, I as I have a passion for global education and collaboration, I think it would be pretty awesome to have a clue that involves a Skype call to another class as part of the game. I also have been playing with the idea of designing a game with my students that another class would play in another part of the world. We would watch them in our Skype call to get feedback and see first hand how it went.
What have your experiences been? If you are interested in connecting with my students and I in one of my Breakout EDU games please let me know. I would love to hear your ideas.
