1. BreakoutEDU: It’s time for something different

2. Hello! Follow along at goo.gl/tc8o6V Megan Scott
Clinton Prairie Jr/Sr High School
@gopherlibrarian
Follow along at goo.gl/tc8o6V

3. 1.
What?
A Brief Overview

4. In a nutshell
BreakoutEDU brings the popular escape room experience to your classroom by rooting the clues and puzzles in your curriculum.

6. James Sanders and Adam Bellow co-founded this company last year.
Where did this start?
James Sanders and Adam Bellow co-founded this company last year.
Clinton Prairie’s story
I went to an escape room with several other teachers at Thanksgiving last year, and after when we were talking, we thought about how great it would be to bring that experience to students. One week later, I googled Classroom Escape Room and stumbled across Breakout. In January, my principal charged me with trying something new during monthly PD, so we started exploring Breakout in earnest and putting together everything we’d need to make it work. We took morning PD time and ran three simultaneous breakouts with our staff and then followed up with ways Breakout could be used in the classroom.

7. 2.
Getting Started
How does it work?

8. Collect materials needed for the games you want to play
Breakoutedu.com
Go to breakoutedu.com
Sign up as a beta tester
Check out the games
Collect materials needed for the games you want to play
Join the community (FB, Twitter, Voxer)
Signing up as a tester gets you access to the password to all of the games.

9. Materials Premade: Purchase kit from BreakoutEDU Open Source: Locks
Boxes
UV Flashlight
Invisible Ink Pens
When we open-sourced our needs, we ended up with a TON of supplies (see slide 11). It becomes an addiction, and we had some funding.

10. Check with coaches, maintenance dept Personal funds Ask parents
Funding
Community Grants
School Grants
Donations
Check with coaches, maintenance dept
Personal funds
Ask parents
I’ve spent probably $50 on breakout because I wanted some things beyond the basics and when we did PD, there wasn’t time to wait for the ed foundation grant or the Breakout box to arrive. My principal also purchased some items to help get things off the ground.

11. My Storage Area

12. Using Games Search for a game that fits your needs
All subject areas & grade levels are represented
Watch the set up video if there is one
Follow directions as closely as possible
Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the creator
Give yourself time

13. Tips Test the game with family or friends before your class
Have kids turn in opened locks as they go
Laminate pages to reuse if you can
Put stickers on game materials as you hide them so students don’t get confused

14. Tips
Collect clues and place in original boxes with locks as soon as students are done with them if you have to reset for another class
Large classes: Multiple boxes
Large classes: Ticket System
Etiquette: Never post solutions anywhere that isn’t password protected

15. Any Questions so Far?

16. 3.
Creating Your Own
Best Practices

17. Start with the game design template
Determine what process works for you
What works for me
Sample Folder
What works for me:
Determine topics covered in game with teacher
Determine basic story and how many puzzles we want to do
Decide which types of locks or puzzles will work for each topic
Plan on a whiteboard or butcher paper first
Transfer to template as I create supplies for each puzzle
Puzzle documents/drawings/forms are all labeled “Puzzle #” and are linked in the master template
All documents go in a Google Folder

19. 4. Creating with students
Tools & Methods

20. Planning student breakouts
Why?
How?
Sample
Reflection Form
Time?
A day here and there over a month
4 full days leading up to the breakout
Why?
Students can show knowledge in a different way.
Students delegate work and have to really plan together in order to make it work.
Students exercise different muscles. It’s easy to regurgitate, but it’s hard to communicate with others, plan, and troubleshoot.
How?
See sample folder
Determine with teacher what concepts to cover, how many puzzles
Walk students through the process of Breakout creation

22. Credits
This wouldn’t be possible without the work of the BreakoutEDU team.
Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free:
Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
Photographs by Startupstockphotos