What was used to measure a ship’s speed?
In the Sifton Elementary School library earlier this month, fifth-grade student Anthony Hall puzzled over that question, searching hastily through a text on nautical exploration to find the answer.
When plugged into a crossword puzzle, the answer would bring Anthony and his classmates one step closer to finding a series of clues granting them access to a locked box.
“It’s stern!” Anthony shouted to no one in particular, writing down his discovery.
It isn’t, by the way. It’s knots. He’d figure that out later.
If you’ve attended a bachelorette party, a corporate bonding retreat or a teenager’s birthday celebration in the last two years, you’ve likely been to an escape room. The typical experience leaves small teams locked in a room with the goal of solving an increasingly difficult set of puzzles within an allotted time.
Enter BreakoutEDU, a startup company flipping that script and bringing escape rooms to classrooms. Students are given a series of clues and tools that will unlock a variety of locks, allowing them to open heavy-duty plastic boxes. Fifth-grade teacher Linda Albright-Campbell and Sifton teacher librarian Jennifer Moe are testing the boxes this year to give students a hands-on way to explore history and develop teamwork skills through the lens of a game, with plans to expand them elsewhere in the district.
Game-based learning is nothing new in education. Ann Brucker, a game developer for BreakoutEDU, said educational games allow students to take ownership in their learning. If a student answers a question incorrectly on a test or worksheet, they’re marked down. In a game, students are able to think about why they made the mistake, go back and try again.
“It’s that concept of making it engaging,” Brucker said.
The boxes also allow students to use higher-level thinking skills. Students at the elementary school scrolled through a Google map tracing famous transcontinental journeys, searched for the missing information on celebrated explorers’ birth certificates and solved a series of math problems in a sliced-up sign seeking men for a “hazardous journey.”
But sometimes, determining what exactly could be a clue can be just as challenging as solving the puzzles themselves.
“All of life is a puzzle, and there’s clues everywhere,” Brucker said.
Teachers say the program also allows students to tap into their so-called “soft skills” — the ideas of working with other people, persevering in the face of hardship and recovering after making a mistake.
“It’s a matter of patience and teamwork,” Albright-Campbell said as the students raced to solve the puzzles.
The most successful escape room or BreakoutEDU teams are those who work together and tap into each other’s unique skill sets.
“When you’re out in the world, you have each other,” Moe said. “Everyone brings something different.”
That was a challenge for Meyah Pomeroy, one of the students.
“I’m not a ‘work together’ person,” Meyah said.
Still, after setting that aside and working with her team, Meyah cheered with her classmates upon solving the clues and finding their prize: a pile of golden chocolate coins to share.
“It was so exciting,” she said.
Little Anthony Hall, meanwhile, was just glad to sit back with his spoils.
“What a relief,” Anthony said.
