A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively
engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
You may save this Learning Activity to your hard drive as an .html file by
selecting “File”,then “Save As” from your browser’s
pull down menu. The file name extension must be .html.
Phase:
Before/Engage, After/Explain/Elaborate
Activity:
**This activity is a great addition to an animal unit of study or as a culmination activity after the unit or a field trip to the zoo.
The goal of the breakout is to use the skills in the learning objectives to analyze and apply information on the digital breakout to discover codes to unlock locks.
Teacher Directions:
1. If students have not participated in a digital breakout, try this one called SOAR, as a class. It is a great introduction into solving digital breakouts.
2. After completing SOAR, discuss what strategies students needed to complete the breakout: cooperation, communication, perseverance, and problem-solving.
3. Introduce the Zoo Summer Camp Mystery digital breakout. Explain to the students that they will need to work together to solve the mystery and breakout of this digital game.
4. The teacher will project the game on the board/screen. If you have older students, you may want to complete this in the computer lab or with students in pairs sharing a device. (This shortened URL can be used to allow students to log in independently, or you can log them in: https://goo.gl/jwfdej.)
5. The teacher will read the mystery/story at the top of the digital breakout. The teacher will ask: Do you notice anything that might give us a clue to solve the mystery? (Students will probably tell you to click the pictures or the hyperlinked word)
6. Work through the digital breakout together. When you get to the "Giraffe Feeding", K-1 students may want to access math counters to solve it. Students may also use drawings to solve the problem.
7. After completing the digital breakout, discuss how the group improved from the first digital breakout (SOAR).
Assessment Strategies:
The breakout has a self-checking feature built in and students/groups will be provided a confirmation screen at the end notifying that the group broke out successfully.
Classes can evaluate their work during the process of breaking out with these questions:
What was the most difficult part of this breakout?
Which part of the breakout made you proud to solve?
What skills did you need to complete this breakout?
How could we improve our communication skills in the next breakout?
Advanced Preparation:
Before playing Breakout with the class, you may want to take the time to work through the Breakout yourself to have an understanding of how to play the Breakout. This is a teacher answer sheet with codes and where to find them in the Digital breakout: https://goo.gl/Kiqi7U.
DO NOT share answers with students. Please allow them to use clues they discover to figure out the lock codes.
Variation Tips (optional):
This Digital Breakout can be done as a whole group, in small groups, or individually. Before assigning this Digital Breakout in small groups or individually, I would highly recommend doing another breakout from the Digital Breakout site like Catch the Bus or Soar as a whole class, so students can understand the structure of a Digital Breakout.