Students in Mrs. Laurie Myer and Mrs. Linda McCullough’s classes at Perdido School turned into Superheroes Thursday, February 2, in order to rescue the stuffed animal locked inside the Breakout EDU box.
Dr. Stephanie Hulon, Instructional Transformation Specialist, organized the activity, which quickly caught the imagination of every student. Students were organized into groups of three or four. The objective was based on BREAK OUT rooms, or Crack the Code. Before they found their superhero clue sheet, students first had to break the code to find which clue sheet to look for.
Once they found their groups clues, they went to work. They began the lesson by working collaboratively to decode the first message which pointed them to the next clue. In the next clue, the students used critical thinking skills to solve complex math problems. The solutions to these problems helped them crack the code to five different locks.
During the lesson, one team found a box of special tools, black light flashlights, that would reveal hidden messages to help in solving the problems. Not only did the students learn mathematics in this lesson, but they also learned to synergize and learned the value of working with others toward a common goal.
It took the class about 35 minutes to break all the codes and break out Cupcake’s (Dr. Hulon’s dog) favorite toy out of the box.
Some of the comments from students included, “Wow, this is really hard!” “Let’s work together as a team to solve this.”
The importance of this activity helped the students to see the need to depend on each other and work together; after all it takes team work.