Have you tried escape rooms in your classroom? Anytime you can mix a puzzle, game, or other form of fun into your teaching strategy, the level of student engagement will undoubtedly increase.
This article will give you reasons why you should make escape rooms, and in particular editable diy escape room templates, part of your teacher toolbelt.
What is an Escape Room?
You may be familiar with a physical escape room as a place to visit with family and/or friends to complete a series of clues designed around a particular theme for the purpose of receiving codes to “escape” the room. This is a trendy form of entertainment that has really grown in popularity since its debut in the summer of 2007.
Some popular escape room themes involve mystery, fantasy, and horror, but all escape rooms are centered around the puzzle and logic that is required to successfully complete them.
While it seems that escape rooms got their start in a physical space, surprisingly the first virtual escape room was released in 1988. This same concept has been transformed into what is now a great option for teachers to engage students in learning digitally or within a physical classroom space.
When you use an editable diy escape room template, you can choose to allow students to participate either virtually or set up a physical version.
Escape Rooms Benefits
Communication
Escape rooms are great for students to develop communication skills. Working through tasks requires them to collaborate with others in order to successfully “escape” with the correct codes.
Problem Solving
Students who participate in classroom escape challenges must view each task as its own separate “problem”. As they begin to figure out a strategy for solving the clues, their innate problem solving skills are brought to the surface offering them practice with this important skill.
Social Skills
As with any group activity, involvement in escape rooms at school gives students the opportunity to develop important social skills. Unfortunately in our digital world, social skills are beginning to suffer as a result of growing technological advances in communication.
Teamwork
Similarly to the development of social skills, escape rooms also provide a unique avenue for students to grow as better teammates. While a classroom escape challenge can be completed independently, most teachers will allow students to work together with a partner or a group of peers when completing the activity. Because of this, these valuable teamwork skills have the chance to thrive.
Using Escape Rooms in the Classroom
So, how about you? Have you ever used escape room challenges in your classroom? This learning activity can take on many forms.
Physical Escape Room
Some teachers prefer to set up a fully physical challenge in their classrooms that simulates the original version where the students solve clues to crack a code.
Digital Escape Room
Other teachers choose to offer students a fully digital or virtual experience as they review or practice a learning concept.
Hybrid Escape Room
Another common method of presenting a digital escape challenge to students is to use both physical and digital aspects during the activity. A teacher might provide students with a physical set up of the challenge, but require that they enter their codes digitally.
This is the most common use of this editable diy escape room template. This template allows teachers to create a project for students to physically complete, but also provides the option to incorporate a digital “code checker”.
Are you ready to give escape rooms a try in your own classroom? My editable diy escape room templates permit you to create your OWN UNIQUE CHALLENGE by serving as a template.
You can add YOUR OWN QUESTIONS, from ANY SUBJECT AREA to supply your students with an engaging way to practice or review ANY CONTENT.
