Breakout!

I have found it quite difficult in my current role being 'out of the classroom'. I am still passionate about researching and trying out the latest educational tools, apps and strategies to get students excited about their learning, and miss the opportunities for practical application that comes when you have your own class.

Just recently, one of my colleagues purchased a BreakoutEDU box. I had read articles and tweets about this immersive learning game platform, and was dying to see it in action and try it out for myself.

One of the best ways of building capacity as a teacher is to engage in peer observation. So, I visited my colleague's classroom where he was about to trial the BreakoutEDU box with his Year 12 History class. He gave me a quick explanation of how it all worked before the students entered the room. I listened to him give his instructions, and then sat back and observed the students as they tried to think critically, problem solve, and work as a team to find the codes for five different locks from solving physical and digital clues placed around the room. I also observed my colleague, as he anxiously watched the team dynamics at play and tried to refrain himself from giving away hints and let his students make mistakes.

This type of 'game-based' learning excites me. The task frustrated some of the students, but others were driven to find the solutions to the presented problems. The task was also somewhat frustrating for the teacher, as what clues were obvious to him, were a mystery to his students. This learning platform highlighted the need for students to use 21st Century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication when it came to solving the clues.

The Year 12 class successfully broke open the box within the 45 minutes' time frame, with 14 seconds to spare. Would my Middle School staff be able to do it as well?

Not having a class of my own on which to trial this concept, I decided to base our next staff meeting on having to break open the box in order for the meeting to finish (a pre-written game scenario available from the BreakoutEDU website). Perhaps more thought should have been given to the timing of the game; it was not optimal - at the end of a full day of teaching, when brains are fried and enthusiasm is waning.

From the moment the staff received the instructions (via paper aeroplane), collegiality was fractured - some didn't know where to begin, some didn't want to begin, some just wanted it to be over and rushed straight in to trying to crack open the locks without any clues at all!

I observed staff members keeping clues to themselves and solving problems on their own. I heard a graduate staff member verbalising his ideas and making suggestions quietly, but too afraid to share them publicly with the rest of the team. I witnessed a staff member slowly examine every inch of the room, silently digesting clues and artefacts. I saw some staff members sit down, defeated, and not participate.

As the minutes ticked by, collaboration and communication improved. 'Overthinking' was the biggest obstacle. Needless to say, the 'team' ended up opening all of the locks with minutes to spare (after finally deciding that it did not make them 'losers' for asking to use their HINT cards). They broke out of the meeting and enjoyed their treat of snake lollies that was hidden inside the box.

What was, perhaps, the most valuable part of this game for the staff was the reflection afterwards. Comments such as, "Now I know what it's like to feel like the dumbest one in the class!" and "I didn't know where to start or what I was looking for" or "I got so frustrated when [name] wouldn't share what [she] was doing", drove our discussion and put the teachers in the students' shoes.

This game highlighted the importance of learning how to 'Breakout' of your comfort zone, problem-solve, communicate and collaborate. While the staff meeting activity did not play out as successfully as I had hoped it would, there were definitely some lessons learned.