Category: Free Inquiry – Breakout Boxes

My virtual breakout box has been coming along steadily, and I am very excited to share the finished product soon. Recently I have been busy plugging away at inputting all of the concepts into each of the activities and formatting each of the games, and I hope to be finished within the next week or so once classes are over.

I do not have anything particularly exciting to show this week in regards to my breakout box (without giving away part of the final product), so I decided that I would make a post talking about my experience designing and creating a slide show for an inquiry presentation in another class.

In EDCI250 Elementary Field Experience Seminar I,  we had to come up with an inquiry question that is related to education within the classroom and then research and present our findings.

My research question was, “How can I create interactive, hands-on learning opportunities that promote critical thinking?”.

This was an interesting and exciting topic for me to explore, as someone who enjoys hands-on experiential learning myself, I thought it was fun and interesting to see what experts in their field have to say about this topic.

I did some research, and spoke to some educators, and was ready to put together my findings. We had to present our work in a synchronous online meeting, with having approximately 5 minutes to present. But how was I going to do this? I have not presented a project since I was about 13 or 14 years old, nor have I ever created a slideshow before.

I decided to go with Google Slides as my document was easily shareable and I can access on any of my devices.

It took some getting used to and organizing, but once I figured out some of the kinks (user error, not technological error) my slides were well on their way!

We presented our work this past Wednesday, and I was pleased with my overall product. Now that I have made one, I feel confident that I can use this platform to present projects in the future.

Check out my practice presentation of my EDCI250 Final Inquiry Project below!

Thank you for checking it out! I am happy with the journey that I have taken so far, and I look forward to the future!

We’ve had some discussions in class about privacy and security online and how we need to take this into consideration when including technology into the classroom.

This article put out by SecureList states that in June “the education industry accounted for 61 percent of the 7.7 million malware encounters experienced by enterprises in the previous 30 days” (Kaspersky, 2020) .

I decided to take a look at the platform that I am using to create and share my Virtual Breakout Box, Deck.Toys, and see where they sit on the cyber safety scale.

I used the site, Common Sense Education, to see if I can find a review and safety rating for Deck.Toys. Without any luck, I was unable to find a review for this platform. So I decided to explore further.

I was able to find reviews from G2, where people have given Deck.Toys a 4.5 star review. Sadly, it does not go into detail about cyber security.

Exploring further, I was only able to find positive remarks and reviews about this platform. I was unable to find any concerning features in regards to cyber security.

Despite only finding positives, we should still be wary of what we do and use on the internet. Just because it appears safe, we are still taking that risk of a potential online hazard.

I look forward to continuing exploring how I can safely integrate technology into the classroom.

I’ve mentioned in some of my previous posts that I have been developing my virtual breakout box in connection with a grade 6 / 7 science class.

Recently, the teacher of this class was able to share their entire Evolution unit with me. This addition to my resources has been fantastic. Not only as a resource for future classes, but it also allows me to draw upon concepts that are being directly covered in their class and include them in my breakout box.

I was speaking with this teacher the other day and I asked them what might be something they would like to see included in this virtual breakout activity. They responded these requests:

• That the activity will act as a form of review
• Could possibly be done in pairs or small groups
• Has checkpoints where a student needs to check-in with the teacher

These points were great ideas for me to consider when continuing the development of my activity. I was already planning on this activity to act a fun way to review, as it will be drawing on previously known concepts and ideas rather than instructing and teaching new ones.

Luckily this activity is pretty easy to work on in pairs or in groups of three.  The students can work together to solve the puzzles that they are presented with. The teacher suggested this just in case they were unable to use a full set of iPads or Chromebooks.

I loved the idea of having teacher check-in’s throughout the activity. This makes it more interactive than simply being on the iPad the entire time.

The video below shows how I’m making changes to my activity to allow check-in’s with the teacher:

Next week I’ll be sharing my progress with customizing and sprucing up the appearance of my virtual breakout box.

Thanks for reading an watching!

This week has been a busy one, but I was able to devote a small amount of time to my virtual breakout box project!

This project has been fun to experiment with. Having the opportunity to explore an idea while completing a task for a class has been fantastic. This is a project that I have thought about attempting, but haven’t really had the chance to devote some time to.

Right now I am working on inputting content and material that is related to what has been covered in my target classroom. Once I have the information that I need, I will be organizing it into various games and activities within my virtual breakout box!

Check out the short tour of my virtual breakout box so far. I am using DeckToys as my game platform, and I used Screencast-O-Matic and YouTube to record and share the video.

I have many branches and game options so far. Once I input the material that I want the students to work with I may narrow it down and remove some of the branches and activities. I am also hoping to rearrange and change the background image so that it gives the student the impression that they are travelling from place to place as they progress through the challenges.

Thanks for checking this out, stay tuned for future updates on my virtual breakout box!

We were asked to choose a Free Inquiry project to explore and document in our EDCI 336 course. I decided on a passion of mine that I currently use with groups of kids, and one that I could incorporate in my future classroom. That activity is Breakout Boxes!

Most people have heard, or have even participated, in an Escape Room. But what about a Breakout Box?

A Breakout, whether a room or box, provides a group of people the opportunity to incorporate problem solving, collaboration, and fun in an activity that is rewarding and engaging. An Escape Room requires teamwork to be able to escape a locked room, while a Breakout Box requires the same method but to break into a locked box, or use the puzzles and clues to reach an end goal.

Breakout Boxes can be used in almost any environment, and can be adapted for a level most suited for the participants. When used within the classroom, or in a childcare setting, Breakout Boxes can be designed to fit within a certain grade level’s curriculum and can be a great opportunity for some cross-curricular practice and problem solving.

I was first introduced to Breakout Boxes when the out-of-school care program that I currently work at, Keating Out of School Care, ordered a kit from BreakoutEDU. BreakoutEDU is a popular option amongst educators for their variety and convenience. BreakoutEDU offers ready-to-go kits which include boxes, various locks, invisible markers, and many other useful items. Purchasing a kit also grant you a subscription to their site which gains you access to downloadable games and activities. Simply select the one most fitting for your group, download, print, and follow the instructions!

While the BreakoutEDU is a fantastic option, their kits do start at $125 and increase from there. After the initial purchase my work was unable to maintain the subscription, but I was still keen on keeping the activities going. That’s when I started designing and creating my own Breakout Box activities!

Most of the Breakout Box activities that I have designed have been used with groups of kids within grades 2-5. This blog will document my progress and exploration of various Breakout designs, including how to design and create activities that can be used in the Kindergarten setting, as well as my attempt at learning to design virtual Breakout activities that could be used within a middle school classroom (grades 6-8).

Stay tuned!