Have you ever played Exit Room games? You’re locked in a room, and you have to solve various puzzles and find clues to escape before the time is up. This can be a useful strategy in education as well, and Breakout EDU has capitalized on it by creating a version you can use in the classroom.
We have been playing these games at various points throughout the year, and I have found that they are useful both in terms of developing the Core Competencies of the BC curriculum and giving students a chance to engage with curricular content. My grade eights have the most experience with both of these types of games, having played several of them, and I’ve asked them to comment below so that teachers can read their feedback and thoughts around the games.
I’ve asked them to talk about the following areas:
- their personal reactions to playing the games;
- the usefulness of the games in developing the Core Competencies, such as communication, and critical and creative thinking;
- the ways the games prompt a focus on learning and problem solving;
- how they have developed personally in their skills at playing the games;
- and anything else they think will help teachers make a decision about whether these games may be useful in their own classrooms.
To my students: thank you for providing your honest feedback!
When we played the breakout edu for the first time I found it very engaging and very interesting. I love solving all the clues and thinking outside the box more to solve the questions to open the locks.
I believe edu breakouts allow us to communicate and use creative thinking a lot more than regular work. I find we have to communicate to open the boxes and it makes it more fun. Creative thinking is also used because we are all using our “outside of the box thinking” and working hard to open the boxes.
These edu boxes help us work a lot on problem solving with classmates and with ourselves. Considering we have to go trough all the clues and pay close attention to fine detail that could lead to clues.
From doing these edu breakouts I have learned that it is never the first thing you think it is, if you feel like you have the answer there is always one more layer deeper to get to the answer. So by playing I have learned to keep going even when we have believed to have it.
Trust me teachers, you will want to encorperate these into your classrooms as they will make the day a lot more fun!
I enjoy doing Breakout EDU. I agree that they help me develop my core competencies. For example I was not able to think creatively well but now I think that I have improved in that area. Learning wise this is great to do because you can make the theme fit in to what you’re working on in class. Personally I think that doing this activity has helped me improve on my critical thinking and problem solving. Breakout EDU definitely is a great way for your students to have fun while learning and developing skills.
I really enjoyed doing breakout edu. I feel that it is a great way to get to know you classmates if your doing it at the beginning of the year aswell as an amazing way to test knowledge of a subject and practice making quick affective decisions under the pressure of time. Breakout .edu’s are also nice because you have to think outside the box. Instead of just answering a question you might have to use a up light to find a part of a question then answer that part to get the second half. They are really fun when you participate and it makes you feel like a great detective. Solving a big clue and being congratulated by everyone is also pretty nice. Breakout edu also well give you a memory of a subject say for example you are doing a test and you are trying to remember something you can remember “ oh yeah I remember doing that question in the breakout edu”. Although these take up about an hour or so and I bet they take a lot of time to plan out I feel they are a nacesity and all students should have a chance to do one or hopefully more. I feel breakout edu’s would be better in smaller groups because if there are lots of students some might not get to many chance to participate and other students might start taking everything over but despit that there amazing and practice several of the core competency’s like creative thinking or making quick decisions and teamwork. Overall breakout edu”s are amazing and are great for students.
I really enjoy Breakout EDU. It is very fun to do with all my classmates and alows us to work together. After we do it we usually do a Core Compentesy worksheet and i have noticed that doing Breakout EDU has helped me do that. Breakout EDU also always has a different theme based on what we are learning in class, so while we are trying to break the box open we are learning things too.
I personally like the Breakout EDU games because they are very useful in developing core competencies and they really help with teamwork skills and everything in that area. They really make you focus on what’s happening and It’s a nice kind of break from things. Breakout EDU is useful because it gives us time to solve problems that aren’t exactly related to school and it really helps with group work and team work. And I’ve definitely developed problem solving skills while doing the Breakout EDU. After we do a Breakout EDU we usually do a core competencies worksheet reflecting on everything.
I think the breakout EDU is amazing for lots reasons. You get to interact with your peers and solve questions that you can’t do by yourself. It’s like you find bits of information to find your final answer but it’s not done yet. You have to now unscramble the information you got to get the code or answer to unlock one of the locks. It’s very rewarding when you crack the code. Teachers might think “well they’re just playing a game” but it’s not just a game. It focuses on critical thinking like thinking out side of the box. It also requires you to fail but to learn from your mistakes and try again. So overall I think it’s a great experience.
Breakout EDU is something that helps us communicate, It uses your core competencies to open the lock on the box. It begins with a problem, the problem usually has something to do with what we are learning, we are given pages and tools to help us figure out the code for the locks to unlock the box in a time limit. Communication and Critical and Creative Thinking are key to completing the task set before us as we need to use what we are given and communicate to know what others know, co-operation is key in these moments, if there wasn’t any co-operation then everyone would be in conflict and getting no where. Critical and Creative Thinking would be helpful with ideas and what you could do that would help solve the problem or solve the problem. Breakout EDU is another one of those games that prompt you to think instead of carelessly guessing. It requires a lot more than just reading and looking because there’s more to it. Personally my skills have developed a lot more than before because of this, now I’m more observant and read between the lines instead of just reading the sentences. In my opinion, these games could help by engaging your students, think of it as learning, but in a fun way!
I agree, having the privilege to play games and learn at the same time really motivates students to to be more involved in this specific activity.
Also now that surrey schools are starting to bring curricular competencies in are learning not only does it help students learn more about these competencies but also helps students strengthen there commicative and creative thinking attributes.
Not only does breakout edu help engage students it also helps encouraging shy students to really get out of there comfort zone and prompt conversation.
Personally Breakout edu had been a useful asset to my learning and I hope many others student will get the choice to experience this just how I did.
The Break Out EDU game is really fun and hard. What is hard is the fact that you have to find clues that are related to what we are learning. For example, when we were learning about the Middle Ages, our teacher gave us riddles and questions, that we could answer using our textbook. When finding the answers we would convert them into a word, or password to unlock the box. We did this as a class, developing teamwork to fund the answers. Overall, it was very hard, challenging what we had learned in a fun way, rather than writing an essay or project.
I Think that break-out-EDU is a perfect way to have a gain in knowledge while having fun it also helps you in the future when you have a job because you have to finish the tasks on time just like a job such as writing the news paper you have to do it when they say it’s due. It also helps you work as a team which you will do in most jobs such as being a car racer team and other various jobs needing team work to complete the same end goal. Overall I love doing Break-Out EDU making education and team work FUN! I really hope other teachers start making work fun like this!
I like playing games like these because its entertaining and makes me think creatively, which we usually don’t in the other subjects like math or science. Communicating with groups is a way to learn and succeed when faced with a problem and we use a lot of that during these games. Im more of a quiet person and personally i dont paticipate in many things, but in this game it really took a turn to my self- esteem. It made me a bit more talkative of my ideas to peers. I recommend doing breakout EDU for teachers if they want to interest while teaching your student in a more enjoying way.
Its a great way of finding different ways to problem solve and using teamwork by communicating different solutions and problems with your classmates.
The Breakouts help me and my classmates to use creative and critical thinking which helps us use core competencies to be better learners. This also helps build teamwork because each person can contribute to solving problems with their own ideas and thoughts while listening to other peoples thoughts on how to solve the breakout.
These games are great, we are given the opportunities to work together as a class to figure out how to get out. We get to chat and work on are communication skills and pushes us to think outside the box. When my class and I are playing these game we mainly have a currant topic that we have been learning and talking about in are regular class time. Over all these games get the students up and having fun but also at the same time learning on current topics happening in your class
By doing breakout EDU it gives us a chance to work with our other classmates that we haven’t worked with before. It also helps us learn because sometimes we have to use the textbook and research to find the answers. It gives the teacher an idea of how well their students work together in a stressful situation because it’s timed. Breakout EDU is great because it makes a very positive environment since everyone is happy and having fun.
I think the whole idea of these games is great! It gives us a chance to talk with people we haven’t talked to before. We all work together as a class to solve puzzles and make decisions. This involves teamwork and teamwork is a very important thing. We’re all leaders. BREAKOUT EDU involves both critical and creative thinking and problem solving. This game has helped me work in teams with people I don’t know. We all put our minds together to solve each problem. Everyone is required to help which is good. We all take on roles and responsibilities. Fifteen people don’t just work on one thing and the other 5 do another. We all do different things in group, mostly equal. Like I said we all work as a team. This game is really fun and I recommend it to other teachers.
The breakout EDU game is fun and you have to communicate with your class and you have to share you information
Breakout Edu is fun game where we have to work together and solve the puzzles so we can open the box. I like it, because it teaches us to think outside the box and helps improve your communication skills. It also has a timer which makes you have a sense of urgency, as well as making it suspencful and after all the work to get the box open you get candy
I really like doing breakout EDU because I’m engaged and it keeps me as well as my fellow classmates interested and occupied for a whole class. We have our challenges and our class excitements, also our crazy moments and that all just makes our class build a strong bond with one another and treat each other to the best of our ability. Breakout along with making everyone more engaged it also gives the opportunity to think on your own and create new ideas to share with your classmates. A reason why I love breakout EDU so much is because no matter who your friends are in the class everyone participates and talks to figure out the clues and it helps to be more efficient. We all know that we won’t crack the code in 60 minutes alone. Breakout EDU is a great way for your class to build a strong foundation of team work. I highly recommend for other classes to participate!
I think this is a great idea for a class room it brings out the person in the kid and there skills it also shows skills they have in a group. It is a very good problem solving activity. My reaction is a good one I like problem solving so this is for me. It promotes focus by showing learning in a new interesting way this game is also useful for a new way of learning it is was better then doing text book work because it is hands on!
Breakout EDU is a new smart and fun way of learning during class. You learn a lot of skills well doing this like, communicating, teamwork, critical think skills and many more.
It’s also difficult at times and there’s multiple answers which makes you apply more of your skills. The only problem is if there’s not very many things to be looking at people slack and don’t do really anything. That’s why you need to have multiple things going on.
When we first did a Breakout EDU box it was a lot of fun and really made you get to know your classmates. This was very helpful in the beginning of the tear because not many of us knew each other. Then when you start making your connections you find that the better your teamwork is and how much better you are at solving the problems.
Doing these boxes also makes you a much better critical thinker, this is because for each problem and box you try and get into has multiple different layers. First, you have understand and get the basic answer to the question, then you keep on digging into the topic until you have this completely different answer from what you had at first.
These Breakout boxes have helped not only me but a lot of my classmates step up and be leaders, in and outside of the classroom.
Overall, Breakout EDU is a lot of fun and if you’re trying to get your students to learn some new information and don’t want to teach them the boring way I would highly recommend this. Even if it’s just for a special occasion where it’s not for the curriculum you still end up learning a lot about yourself.
I think breakout EDU is a great idea because it uses engages different parts of your brain that don’t normally get used during class, it also teaches you that you don’t cant work by yourself all of the time and makes you work better as a class.
Breakout EDU is great for giving students a ‘day off’ without completely cutting off all learning. With the more fun non-academic it may even more challenging since the puzzles are in their own world. Academic puzzles that are related to the current subject that the students are learning are good refreshers. A problem though is when students ignore the puzzles and let everyone else do them. But this can be solved by saying that you are recording their performance during the activity. Breakout EDU is a very fun activity that even the most school hating students will participate in if you get them in habit.
I think doing the edu break out is a good way how to know people in your calss and remember things that you have done in your class or and you have to think really hard about questions because they can be difficult to figer things out. You have to respect your class because it can’t only be you that can do things other people need to be involved not just you and five other people you need to have everyone be involved. I think its a really fun game becuase you can work with people you have not worked with!
When I’m playing EDU I really like it because your able to have fun and also use your knowledge to help you while playing the game. The game is also useful to us students because it helps with thinking critically and also helps us communicate since we have to work together in order to do the breakout EDU. Since the answers won’t be that simple you will also have to start thinking creatively to solve the clues. It also starts to promo you thinking and you have to really focus in order to solve the clue. When I started to play I wasn’t really able to build up any skills to help me in the next breakout EDU. My final thoughts in playing the breakout EDU is that it is able to put what you have learned using your knowledge.
I think break out edu is very fun because I like solving puzzles and clues.
I think the game helps with communication and critical and creative thinking because when solving the clues, you have to think of different ways it could be solved and you need to talk with others in the class to work together to solve the harder ones.
The game prompts a focus on learning an problem solving because we need to think to solve the clues and problems and sometimes the clues could be about things that we’re learning to you would need to look it up and learn more about it.
I think I developed a bit because I communicate with people a little more than I did at the beginning of school. I think I also got to know a bit more of the people in my class.
Honestly, I find Breakout to be the most enjoyable thing to ever happen in school. It allows people to think laterally to solve a problem. I think that room escape games are the best ways for people to solve puzzles. Teamwork is also an important aspect for people
I think that Breakout Edu is one of the best things a teacher can do with their class at the start of the year, so that way everybody gets to know each other! Breakout Edu makes us think fast critically, so we can get the Breakout finished. I think that the Breakout Edu is the best way to get to know each other, since there is a lot of teamwork and creative thinking required! These type of games help our brain get up and running; therefore I think that we should have short 10-20min Breakouts every class. I think Breakout’s are one of the best things a teacher can introduce to their class!