Five meaningful lessons students learned from my 6th grade math escape room, that had nothing to do with math
If you have ever participated in an escape room, you probably felt stranded and completely confused. You also most likely got more excited than a child on the last day of school when you solved a puzzle, not to mention the raw emotions you experienced when you escaped. Furthermore, more than once during your experience, you thought to yourself, “Wow, I am glad I am not trying to figure all of this out alone!”
How this plays a part in my 6th grade math escape room
These emotions, mixed with the adrenaline rush I felt during my escape room experiences are the reason I wanted to create 6th grade math escape room activities for my students that felt like an actual escape room. I didn’t want to just create a series of worksheets and math problems that I slapped the name “Escape Room” across the top and hand it to my students. In doing so, little did I know, my students would learn so much more than the math topics they were reviewing.
Among the many lessons my students learned with my 6th grade math review escape room challenges, a few stick out as the most apparent. Many students advance their ability to organize information, collaborate with other students, notice fine details, think critically, and handle stress and frustration. After learning these lessons, it’s possible for students to escape any 6th grade math escape room free from harm.
1. Organization
When I do escape rooms in my math class, I provide the students with nothing and everything they need to be successful. What I mean by nothing is that I do not provide a worksheet space to record answers, a guide from one puzzle to the next, or even a title that says “clue 1”, “clue 2” etc. I honestly think this turns the so called escape room into a series of worksheets. Instead, I provide the students with a large group whiteboard that I had cut at Lowes from a sheet of white hardboard along with a handful of markers. I laminate all my paper clues and tell the students the only thing they can write on is the whiteboard. That’s how it is in any escape room I have been to. There is conveniently a large whiteboard at your disposal to write down and organize your thoughts.
Learning to organize the thoughts and information on the whiteboards is nothing compared to staying organized with the clues. At the start of most of my escape room activities, the students have way too much information. Watching the students’ eyes as they dump out that first envelope is priceless. Groups of students learn very fast that they need to stay organized to be successful.
After doing several escape room challenges over the course of the year, you can really tell which groups have made progress with their organization skills. As soon as they pour the clues out they start to look for similar symbols, type of paper, fonts, etc. Furthermore, those groups that have mastered the art of staying organized while they work have learned to set clues aside or back into the envelope once they have used it so it is out of the way. In fact, the groups that used this organization hack during my Data and Statistics Escape Room were the only groups to be successful.
2. Collaboration
If I had to complete any of the escape room challenges I experienced on my own, well, let’s just say I would still be locked up (if they allowed for this). I couldn’t do it alone and neither can my students. By using escape room activities in the classroom, students are forced to work together to reach a common goal. The students learn very quickly they will not be able to escape alone. In fact, every individual brings his own individual set of skills and experiences to the table. Too often, I notice a student that may be struggling with the math topics we are currently studying be the first to figure out a non-math related puzzle. The mind of each student is unique and groups that learn to foster this, celebrate the most success.
When creating groups, I usually allow the students to choose their own. If they were paying to attend an escape room, they would be going with a group of friends or people they trust. Aside from not allowing certain individuals to work together due to potential behavioral issues, I give one recommendation: if your group has more than three, there must be at least two members of each gender. Men and women think very differently and from my experience, groups that had both boys and girls working together were the most successful.
As the year goes on and the students have experienced more escape room challenges, they begin to rely on collaboration in order to be more successful. Students take on positions to help delegate tasks, work in pairs to ensure math is solved correctly and rely on others to relay information they obtained.
3. Attention to detail
In escape rooms, the obvious too often seems not so obvious. By using escape room activities, my students have learned to pick up on subtleties. They start to notice every marking, every layout, and every word that just doesn’t seem right.
There must be a reason all these clues are written on sticky notes. The alignment of these circles seem to resemble something. The picture of the lock in the upper corner must be there for a reason. Why are these certain words in bold? That symbol appears on several items, they have to go together.
The more experience students have with escape activities, the easier it gets for them to pick up on subtle clues. The groups that master this attention to detail end up escaping much faster with far less clues than others.
During my Integer Escape Room, the students receive small rectangular pieces with numbers written on them. The groups that notice these small rectangles are the same dimensions as the rectangles on the larger clue are able to solve that puzzle much faster. Attention to these little details continues to develop as students attempt more and more challenges.
4. Critical thinking
How do you teach critical thinking? The watch me, now you try approach too many math teachers rely on to introduce new topics cannot be used to work on this skill. It simply does not work. In order to advance students ability to think critically, you place them in situations where they have to think critically. Utilizing puns, providing vague clues and organizing information and numbers in different ways forces students to think differently. It’s so exciting to see the students have that aha moment when they finally realize exactly how a clue has been set up. Once the students learn to think more critically, they begin to respect the puzzles.
During my Fraction Escape Room, a group of my students realized I had written a clue under information I had written with a dry erase marker. They turned to me with a big sideways grin and told me how clever of a clue that was. At that moment, I knew that particular group had started to think differently due to their ability to appreciate the cleverness of the clue. If you are interested in creating a math escape room for your students, read my post about the five clever ways to upgrade any math escape room.
5. Handle stress and frustration
Let’s face it. As soon as that timer hits 59:59 the stress level goes through the roof. If you want to know if your students can persevere in problem solving, trying out an escape room is a great way to test it! In providing my students with various escape challenges throughout the year, they have learned to deal with the stress and become less frustrated with each other, the clues, and the task. The first escape room we did in my class was a very humbling experience not only for my students, but for me as well.
As the facilitator of an escape room it is my job to ensure progress is being made even when students get stuck and discouraged. This was a difficult balance at first and made me a little frustrated. The students often feel the same way during the first escape room they participate in because they have yet to develop the skills to handle the excitement, stress and frustration. In time my students progressed and the stress and frustration of the timer, although still there, did not bear as much weight as it once did. This was especially noticeable during my Geometry Escape Room when students finally began to apply all the other lessons they had learned.
6th grade math escape rooms teach lessons of their own
Once students started to get more organized, learned how to rely on each other, paid closer attention to small details, and developed the skills to think more critically, handling the stress and frustration brought on by the challenges happened organically. Although math is at the root of all of my escape room challenges, I am glad my students had the opportunity to learn these five other valuable lessons.
