Thinking of planning an escape room for students? Here are some brief suggestions for making the experience meaningful and successful.
Experience lots of escape rooms yourself. This helps to understand the experience & helps to come up with lots of ideas for puzzles. My favourite rooms in Sydney are at The Cipher Room. Check out their 3 rooms here. I also like the Dr M and Lost Mine rooms at Mission Escape in Pitt Street. Most recently I experienced the Diefenbunker in Ottawa which was brilliant.
Pilot a ready-made Breakoutedu puzzle box with a small group of students. Let the students know what you will be observing (eg. collaborative skills, problem solving).
Context is important. Before planning any puzzles, think carefully about what are you trying to learn about your students. You could use the escape experience to introduce new content through immersion, assess understanding during or following a sequence of learning or to assess the development of future skills (collaborative problem solving, interpersonal skills etc.). Stanford d.school has a great observational matrix to assist with this. Primary classrooms are great to hide puzzles in!
Collect materials to use. Locks (letter, number, key, dials) chains and lockable boxes and cupboards come in handy. Hardware stores and antique stores are great places to pick these up.
Ensure the sequence of puzzles work and are placed in the correct places.
Have kids play! Adding a timer and music helps to build tension and allows students to feel more immersed - particularly when it is historically themed. Document discussion. Film. Photograph. Use an observational matrix.
Ask students to evaluate the puzzles and what they liked the best, learnt about themselves/others/content and how they would change the set up for the next group of students.
More details and suggestions to come...