Above is a digital breakout we created for fifth grade language arts based on comparisons, chronology, cause/effect, and problem/solution. There is a Google Form at the bottom of the Sway document (the breakout) for the answers. If you decide to take the challenge, best of luck!!
*Write-up written by Rachel Gray & Tabitha Schmidt
A digital breakout is breakout box that your students can do online through a variety of online tools. At the end of each activity, you can provide a code for the “locks” on the “box.” At the end of solving all the locks (typically 4-6) the box opens and the students receive a prize.
This tool ties into the Danielson Framework for Teaching via Domain 3: Instruction. The element it relates to the best is Engaging Students in Learning. By using a tool like a breakout box - digital or physical - the student is applying the knowledge that they learned in the lesson, section, or unit. Applying knowledge is one of the best ways to absorb information instead of just having a surface level understanding.
Breakouts can be used to challenge students in a fun way if they are done well and can test their skills/knowledge in a particular subject. We both did not like this tech tool. It was a learning experience for us. We thought that the breakout would go quite differently from how it really went. The actual BreakoutEdu site was way more equipped to handle a breakout than the sites we needed to use, but BreakoutEDU costs money, and for one project, buying time with it would not have been feasible. The sites we needed to use could not really tell when correct or incorrect answers were inputted, and most sites did not have a way to put a code message at the very end, which would make it very easy for students to either scroll to the bottom to see the answers without doing the work, or for the ones where just completion gets you the code at the end, someone can easily just input in all the wrong answers and still get the code. I feel like if we used the real BreakoutEdu site, it would have gone so much better. The breakout we worked on was the best we could do with limited resources.
Digital breakouts relate to the 4Cs of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication in many ways. If students create a digital breakout, they can be creative in choosing what to include in their breakout. If they are playing your (the teacher’s) breakout game, they can communicate their knowledge to you through many means: mazes, worksheets, quizzes, games, etc. Doing breakouts in groups show they can collaborate with each other to meet their main goal (getting all of the lock codes/locks figured out) and think critically to get the solutions to the problems that are posed within them. Breakouts also relate to the ISTE standards for students because they can be empowered learners using them. They can use breakouts to show their knowledge and determination to get the answers right to get codes, showing they can be empowered learners.