Breakout EDU

Breakout EDU

A Breakout EDU is similar an escape room.  Participants use clues to solve puzzles and “breakout” of the situation they have been given.  The goal of a Breakout EDU is to have student gain content knowledge through student-led exploration, problem-solving and teamwork.

Through the past two years, I have been hearing a lot about Breakout EDU. However, I didn’t really understand what it was until I was able to participate in an actual Breakout EDU.

Due to this experience, Shelley (our instructional coach) and I developed a Christmas themed digital Breakout to introduce Breakout EDUs to our staff. This Christmas Breakout didn’t focus on the teachers learning new content, but instead exploring how a Breakout is set up. Feel free to click on the link and explore this breakout.

A screenshot of our Christmas Breakout EDU

Since this experience with a digital Breakout EDU, several teachers have begun to explore them even more.  If you are interested in using a Breakout EDU in your classroom, there are several different options for both the physical Breakout as well as the digital ones. You can build your own activity or you can use/modify one that has already been created.

Here are a few resources:

Sample Breakout EDU

Pinterest - This is where I have found the majority of the Breakouts I have explored.  Some of them are on teachers pay teachers and there is a cost, but there are also free ones available as well.

Breakout EDU - This link will show you how to sign up for free access to several Breakout EDUs (physical ones, which require a kit)

Free Digital Breakouts

TEMPLATE - This site provide a template if you are interested in creating your own digital Breakout EDU.

Teachers - There are several teachers at the Jr./Sr. High Staff who have either created, played or used Breakouts in their classrooms this school year (or they are about to).  Please feel free to contact myself, Mrs. Mitzelfelt or Mrs. Cooper if you have any questions about Breakout EDU.

Breakout EDU at SEW:

Mrs. Cooper's Jr. High TAG students recently completed a Minecraft themed breakout called "Back to Reality." It was great to watch them work together as a team to problem-solve and figure out the clues to breakout!

This group was able to break out the fastest!

Working hard to figure out the clues.

I recently had my English 9 students complete a digital breakout entitled "Escape from Plot Mountain," and they really enjoyed it.  

This group was the first to Breakout.  Their excellent communication and teamwork definitely helped them to succeed in this challenge.

This is a screenshot of a poll I gave to my students after they completed the Breakout.

MakerSpace Demo Day in the Primary Building

In December, Jeff Glade (Technology Integrationist from Heartland AEA) came to demonstrate different MakerSpace and STEM resources that can be used and incorporated into Science, Technology and Math instruction.  The students and teachers had the opportunity to learn about and try out Ozobots, Osmos, Spheros, SnapCircuits and more! It was so much fun finding out more about these resources, and we are looking forward to having more MakerSpace items available to our classrooms in the future!