With so many students now learning in a mostly-virtual environment, one of the most impactful human elements of classroom learning that has suffered is collaboration. Throughout the initial phases of quarantine, the 4Cs (collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking) as a whole took a bit of a hit, as many teachers found themselves working hard to adjust their teaching to get content out to students in a new and changing environment. Now that digital-first learning is the new normal, we have seen more and more examples of teachers who are harnessing the wonderful power of digital tools to bring those critical skills back into play!
Agnes Palucki, a Digital Learning Coach from Illinois, recently Tweeted a picture of a class of fourth graders with whom she had just collaborated to complete a Breakout EDU Digital game via Google Hangouts (she’s also done this activity with second graders and had great success). Since we’ve seen several social media posts and replied to a few emails from teachers wondering how to do something just like this, we reached out to Agnes to see how she made the magic happen.
First, Agnes and her colleagues love Breakout EDU kit games, and so when the school closure occurred, she and her team began brainstorming ways they could continue to engage students in meaningful, collaborative ways. “What else can we do?” was a question that prompted the team to try running a digital game remotely. She shared the following tips for how she learned to make the experience a successful one:
Decide on a game: What’s the learning objective? Agnes talked with her collaborating teachers and then searched the Breakout EDU Platform for games that met their criteria. In the end, they settled on a game themed around field day (which they happened to be missing that week).
Have two screens if possible: Agnes discovered the activity worked best when she joined the Hangout as “herself” in one, and then shared the game in the other so that she could see and hear students as they interacted.
Send the link in the virtual chat so students can play along: Agnes said that the students liked being able to see the puzzles and clues on their own screens while the game was happening; she coached them ahead of time on how to keep the game and the chat running in separate tabs.
Explain how a Breakout EDU Digital Game works: For students who had never played a Breakout EDU Digital game before, it was important that they understood what would happen when a lock was selected (ex. that it turned green when the combinations were correct, and so on).
*One helpful resource to share with students on this topic can be found by visiting brkedu.com/HowToPlayLet students participate: Agnes didn’t keep her students muted during the game; instead, she laid out the rules ahead of time for how they should get her attention when they had an idea to share or when they needed help. For example, she told them not to shout out answers, but rather to raise their hands when they had something they wanted to ask or tell. This empowered learners with the sense that “they were helping me” when it came time for her to enter the combinations on behalf of the class.
Encourage students to share their thinking: Just like in a physical classroom, students were empowered by the discoveries and ideas of their peers. When they were able to see, hear, and understand how a classmate solved a puzzle, they felt more successful to try that same tactic on their own in the next puzzle or game.
We have put together a quick, clickable guide (linked above and downloadable here) to share how easy it is to play a digital game with students! Please be sure to share your tips, tricks, and successes by commenting below, sharing via social media, or emailing us at info@breakoutedu.com.
Hang in there, and keep up the amazing work!
Your Success Stories
“I successfully did a digital breakout digitally with my 4th graders about 2 weeks ago. I sent students all the link in google classroom about 15 minutes before our zoom started. They were allowed to look over it and try anything they wanted on their own for those 15 minutes. This allowed them to already have the link. We discussed rules and time frames and then “broke out” in to 2 rooms on zoom. The two teams were able to work as two separate teams and it was amazing to jump from room to room and hear them working just like in the classroom. I suggested that one student in each “room” share their screens so everyone can see what was going on. I also suggested using that one shared screen as the one to breakout of each lock. When the time was up they came back, I gave them a 60 second reminder to come back to the original room an we discussed successes and answers. One team broke out and the other was only one lock away. It felt very good for me and my students LOVED it. They are excited to have a Breakout planned on Thursday.”
“My students have had so much fun doing digital Breakouts during our weekly Google Meets!!! I “present” my whole screen allowing me to open the picture clues in another window for them to see. They deliberate with each other and then agree on a combination for me to try.
We’ve had a ball with it!!!!
#avidbreakoutteacher
#breakingoutsince2015”