Have you tried digital escape rooms in your classroom yet? I’m not a big fan of tests, so test review seems like a necessary evil. If I have to give tests to assess students’ learning, review time should be engaging — not just a day dedicated to a study guide, worksheet, or fill-in-the-blank questions. Some kids know all the answers while others have no idea what to put. It seems kids who already know all the answers are highly engaged, and students who struggle find test-review days hard to focus.
I stumbled upon a solution that has been a game changer for review in my classroom at a technology conference two years ago. It’s the digital escape room. The escape rooms get the job done — reviewing content so my students can be successful on test days and solidify their concept knowledge–and the amazing part? The games engage ALL of my students. Instead of spending the day saying “get focused,” I get to field excited questions from kids as they clammer to solve science questions. You can find a FREEBIE digital escape room here on my TeachersPayTeachers store.
What Are Digital Escape Rooms?
A digital escape room is an online review game where students answer content questions to unlock clues and reveal a hidden password. Instead of a worksheet, kids hunt through a digital “room,” solve puzzles in any order, and piece together letters to “escape.” Same puzzle-solving fun as a real escape room, built around your science standards.
Below I’ll tell you all about science digital escape rooms and show you how you can enjoy using them in your classroom. Read on! I’m wishing you many happy, stress-free, and successful test prep sessions!
Have you ever visited an escape room? You start in a room filled with hidden clues. You get about an hour to solve tough puzzles and try to break out. It’s surprisingly fun. So how do we bring that fun to our classrooms? We can make the same sort of interactive games for our students.
Escape rooms (also called breakouts) are interactive games in which students answer questions or puzzles to move on to the next clue. They can be physical (print-outs), digital, or a combination. However, the concept is the same in all three types. Each clue is a question that opens a lock or reveals another clue. After solving all the clues, they “escape” by opening the final lock.
Digital escape rooms use the same idea except the clues are questions in a Google Slide or Form document, PowerPoint file, or another program. Some move in a “straight line” through specific sets of questions. Others require students to hunt through a digital “room” to find the clues in any order and then piece together information to find a password. The latter is my favorite type. The “room” feels immersive and students get the satisfaction of finding the clues. I also prefer digital escape rooms because paper ones tend to require more printing, prep, and management. I spend time passing out clues rather than helping students who need assistance.
5 Reasons I Love Digital Escape Rooms:
- Kids can “hunt” for questions. They take ownership of their learning.
- No-prep!
- Kids are motivated to ask me (and their classmates) questions when they have misconceptions.
- Easy management
- Kids learn to persevere and problem-solve!
If you would like to try one for FREE, I have a Back to School digital escape room on my TPT store available.
I also offer a FREE Experimental Design digital escape room when you join my email list! This challenge will require students to choose independent and dependent variables in an experiment and identify constants. I’ve also included an additional challenge in which students design their experiment and write a procedure to test it! This is great for an additional challenge or differentiation!
What Are The Benefits Of Using Science Digital Escape Rooms?
Escape rooms build perseverance, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration while students review key vocabulary and concepts. Kids get to struggle productively, feel the payoff of cracking a tough question, and see how different group members bring different strengths. It’s all the review a worksheet gives you, but with real engagement and buy-in.
Has this ever happened to you? A student raises their hand with a question. Along the way to that student, you answer a question from a different student, stop to get another one on task, and then pick up something that was left on the floor. When you finally get to that first student, they have put their hand down and say, “I figured it out!” That is probably one of my favorite “teacher moments.” I t happens often using games like digital escape rooms in my class.
These activities can create moments when students will struggle and find the ability to persevere.
They will feel accomplished when they figure out the answer to the question they have been thinking about for a few minutes.
They use problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, and content knowledge to finish the game. They will learn collaboration skills when they work in groups to complete a challenge with a classmate.
They will see how different people can bring different strengths to their group when one person sees how to solve a puzzle that no one else was able to figure out.
While not in our science standards, I think these are outcomes we all want for our students.
They are also just more engaging than a fill-in-the-blank worksheet. While students may still be simply reviewing important vocabulary, it’s more fun to know that you need this answer to crack the password!
How Can You Use Digital Escape Rooms In A Science Classroom?
Use them for test and quiz review on any topic, as a team-building activity to get middle schoolers talking productively, as a friendly competition against the clock or other groups, or as an emergency sub plan you can assign online. Any content — water cycle, balancing equations, Newton’s laws — fits the format.
Here are some ways I like to use my science digital escape rooms:
- Test Review: Whenever I have an upcoming test or quiz, I use them to review vocabulary or concepts. Whether reviewing parts of the water cycle, balancing chemical equations, or identifying examples of Newton’s laws of motion, any content can be used in a digital escape room.
- Team-Building Activity: Middle school students are not always the best at working together. However, finding the answer to a problem is one way to get them to talk productively. Students in a group can each work to solve different clues or help each other. It’s a great team-building approach.
- Competitive Activity: Students can compete with other students or groups to see who can escape first. Or, add another challenge by setting a timer for students to beat working together as a group.
- Emergency Sub Plan: Not able to make it to school today? These activities can be assigned online.
How Do Digital Science Escape Rooms Work?
Students click around a picture to find hidden clues. Each clue is a content question, and answering it correctly gives them a letter of the password. Once they’ve found all the clues, they unscramble the letters to reveal the password and “escape.” Clues can range from simple multiple-choice to multi-step puzzles.
Students search for clues in digital escape rooms by clicking in the picture.
Step 1: Once students are assigned the activity or receive the link, they look for clues in the picture. They will click on people or objects on the screen until they find one. When clicked, it will take them to a content-related clue. Once they answer the question or complete the puzzle, they will receive a piece of the password (such as a letter).
Step 2: After they find a clue, they use their content knowledge to answer the question. Each question gives them a letter to the password they will eventually find to “escape.” These clues can be as simple as multiple-choice questions or as challenging as multi-step puzzles.
Step 3: Lastly, they unscramble the letters to find the password and beat the escape room! After finding all the letters, students have to unscramble them to find the password. They will think through the vocabulary they have learned about this topic and eventually figure it out. Students always look so proud of themselves once they finish this challenge!
What Do You Do When Students Feel Frustrated?
Match your support to your class. Offer three levels: high support means projecting clues and solving them together; medium means modeling navigation, then circulating with hints; low means letting students work independently with timers and Hint Cards. The goal is that “just right” challenge where students must put in effort but can still succeed.
The whole point of an escape room is to provide students with a challenge. Sometimes they thrive with it. Sometimes they feel frustrated and want to give up. In my opinion, this is one of the hardest things to accomplish in a classroom – finding that “just right” level of difficulty where students learn but must put forth some effort. I’ve found three levels of support for students when using digital science escape rooms in my class.
Think about how much support your class will likely need. I suggest three levels:
High Level of Support: Consider projecting the escape room on the board to introduce each clue. Give students a few minutes to solve the clue individually or in small groups. Then, solve the clue (check the answers) as a class.
Medium Level of Support: Introduce the escape room and show students how to navigate the environment (how to go into the correct mode to click links or manipulate the movable pieces). Then, circulate while students solve puzzles and offer advice or give hints as necessary. As referenced above, consider handing out Hint Cards for students who get stuck.
Low Level of Support: After students have some experience with this type of activity, introduce them to the escape room and let them begin to locate and solve clues on their own. At this level, you could include a timer challenge where they beat the clock or race against other groups to find the answer. You could also provide Hint Cards at this level. However, I will tell them I will not accept Hint Cards until a certain amount of time (say, 5 minutes) has passed.
Tips For Success With Digital Escape Rooms
Have students write down each clue name and the letter it gives so they can fix a single wrong letter later. Memorize the password so checking answers is fast. Use Hint Cards so kids decide whether they truly need help, and encourage collaboration — communication is a real scientific skill worth practicing.
After using these games in my classroom, I’ve found some ways to help students succeed:
- Encourage Students to Write Down Their Findings: Students will feel defeated when they finally answer all the clues and cannot unscramble the wrong set of letters. Even one wrong letter will make it impossible to unscramble. I tell students to write down the name of the clue (whatever picture they clicked on to get there) and the letter they got from it. My escape rooms provide a printable answer sheet that helps students stay organized. I can also quickly glance at a student’s work and point them to a clue to revisit.
- Memorize The Password: Going along with #1, if you memorize the password checking student answers is a breeze. Assume the password was “Genetics.” I scan their letters for those in the password (G, E, N, T, I, C, and S). If they have an “L” I know that clue is wrong. They will look back to see which clue gave them that letter and try to answer it again.
- Hint Cards: I will give students a few brightly colored notecards that they can trade with me for a hint on a specific question, a letter placement in the password, or an idea of how to solve a puzzle. This makes students decide if they need help because they don’t want to waste a Hint Card.
- Collaboration: I encourage students to work together! As a former engineer, I know that one of the things scientists need most is communication skills. I like to give my students consistent opportunities to work in groups because this is a real-world skill!
Wrapping Up
Digital escape rooms turn test review into a game students actually want to play. They practice team-building and perseverance while reviewing specific science content, and they discover they can push through challenges. I offer escape rooms for nearly every middle school science topic if you’d like ready-made ones.
Digital escape rooms are a great way to practice team-building skills while reviewing specific science content. Students will be more engaged knowing each question will help them find the password and escape. Students bring different strengths to their group and will discover they can persevere to overcome challenges.
If you want to try one for free, consider joining my email list below! I’ll send a FREE digital escape room about Experimental Design (such as independent and dependent variables, constants, and controls). Try it out in your classroom, then email me to let me know how it goes. I love knowing my work is helping other teachers engage their students without taking a ton of their time!
I offer digital escape rooms for nearly every middle school science topic on my TeachersPayTeachers store (Earth Science Escape Rooms, Ecosystems Escape Rooms, Physical Science Escape Rooms, and Life Science Escape Rooms). I’ve enjoyed making these and wanted to offer them to other middle school science teachers. Each comes with a Google Slide ready to be shared through Google Classroom or as a link, a teacher guide for easy implementation, a student printable sheet with an additional challenge for differentiation, and all the answer keys. Write a review and let me know how it goes with your students!
If there is a science topic you’d like to have made into an escape room, don’t hesitate to send me an email at info@mrsharktooth.com! I always love to hear from fellow teachers.