I recently got a chance to sit down with Billings, Montana high school teacher-librarian/technology integration specialist (aka a lady who has practically seven full-time jobs and crushes every one of them with her magic and enthusiasm) Shaundel Krumheuer. She had hosted a special event in her library, and with her two library colleagues, ran four games simultaneously with nine groups over the course of three days. If that gives you the mouth-sweats (as she would say), she actually called it “one of the most rejuvenating days” she’s experienced in the library. Here’s what else she had to say about it:
In order to make it easier for students to get signed in and working with the Breakout EDU Platform, we have added Google Classroom as a Sign Up / Log In option. If you use Google Classroom, this is a great way to eliminate the students from having to remember an additional username and password in order to access Breakout EDU.
We are excited to announce 600+ new K-8 games for math, science, ELA and social studies. Included in each of these subject areas, you will find new digital games for all covered standards and capstone games to review each unit.
Recently we released some great new team building games and had the idea to create a game experience where there are three separate digital games that, in order to succeed, must be played together with three players or in three small teams. Using one another’s images and clues, they will help solve each of their puzzles at the same time.
For Instructional Technology Specialist Tana Ruder, Breakout EDU is the perfect way to help students develop these critical skills—while also reinforcing core content knowledge.
Nearly every teacher has had at least one student who just doesn’t seem engaged. Maybe they’re bored with school, or they’re focused on challenges at home—or maybe they lack the confidence to even try. Elementary school teacher Donnie Piercey was struggling to reach one such child until he tried using Breakout EDU. Suddenly, everything changed.
Getting Students Excited to Learn
In Tina Risinger’s elementary math classroom in Round Rock, Texas, engagement is at an all-time high. Students are excited to learn and practice math skills with Breakout EDU “escape room” games. Each game challenges students to solve a series of problems creatively while working together against the clock. Students are more apt to retain this knowledge and, best of all, students learn important problem-solving skills along the way.
The Breakout EDU Games Team is proud to share a couple of exciting courses to help students started with creating their very own digital games on the Breakout EDU Platform.
These courses, Digital Game Design Junior (designed for the youngest designers) and Student Game Design Course (designed for Upper Elementary students through High School), and the Game Design Mini-Courses (for younger and older students) contain a Teacher’s Guides, short video lessons filled with examples, digital games to help reinforce and teach game design concepts through examples, and great printable game design activities.
Walking into Katy Lefler and Michael Thomas’ science class at Ben Steele Middle School is like stepping into an adventure. Kids are huddled over sheets of paper with a few large and small locked boxes in front of them. As the noise of chatter fills the room, a giant clock counts down how much time students have left to crack the code and unlock the clues before them.
We are excited to announce the release of a brand new Breakout EDU game, Make Learning Magical! Just like peanut butter pairs with jelly or grilled cheese needs its tomato soup, this hybrid game is the perfect side dish to the newest Dave Burgess Publishing Company book Make Learning Magical by author Tisha Richmond. In the book, Tisha provides the recipe and describes the ingredients needed to take your passions and cook them up into magical experiences for students:
Memorable Beginnings that build excitement and relationships
Authenticity and Agency that empower students
Gamified Experiences to engage learning on a higher level
Innovation that makes learning exciting and relevant
Creation, Collaboration, and Curiosity to equip learners for real life
Authentic Audiences to bring out your students' best work
Legacy built through meaningful experiences
Tisha is just beginning her first year as a Technology Integration Specialist in Medford, Oregon. Prior to that, she whipped up her magic as a high school culinary arts teacher for 22 years. While some people may think the idea that seasoning a subject like culinary arts with technology is equivalent to sprinkling pepper on watermelon, Tisha took full advantage of the myriad opportunities that working with students in a passion subject brings. In her blog, she says, “I absolutely love what I do. I have the opportunity each day to encourage and inspire; to help them develop skills necessary to be successful in life and a career in the culinary industry. I am continuously looking for innovative ways to make learning come alive for my students.”
Embracing that innovator’s mindset is what led Tisha to cook up her first book, and is what prompted her to partner with Breakout EDU to cater a game to go along with it. While it is not necessary to read the book in order to play the game, we think this would be the perfect way to culminate or even kick off a book study. A great read, some tasty snacks, conversation with colleagues, topped with a dollop of Breakout EDU? It doesn’t get any better than that!
Make Learning Magical , “the #1 new release Experimental Education Methods,” is available now on Amazon, and the game is available for free at platform.breakoutedu.com.
Since launching the Breakout EDU Platform in the Fall of 2017, we have been diligently working to increase classroom engagement and unlock student creativity. This past week’s release introduces some exciting new features and functionalities.
With this new version of the Platform, teachers can create classes, assign one of the 150+ pre-created digital Subject Pack games, and empower their students to design their own digital games.
Once the student has created a game and turned it in, teachers can review their work, provide feedback, and add the game to a class library for their peers to play. We see teachers using this tool to have students design games for each unit of study.
Breakout EDU game design is an effective way to allow students to work at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy. By creating games, students have an opportunity to construct puzzles and think critically about academic content. This is infinitely more exciting and challenging than simply memorizing facts or completing worksheets.
When designing the student section of the Breakout EDU Platform, we wanted to provide resources to help students become great game designers. The incredible Breakout EDU Games Team created a series of lessons teaching students all the elements of game design. These resources can be found in the “Student Design Course” section in the Classes section.
To access the tutorials that detail how to get started with creating classes and managing student game design, check out breakoutedu.com/tutorials.
We are excited to see what your students can create and how they can showcase their creativity through game design on the Breakout EDU Platform.
1. STUDENT GAME DESIGN
With the latest update to the Breakout EDU platform students can now design their own digital games. By having students design games aligned to specific academic topics or skills, teachers transfer the ownership of learning from teacher to student. Once the students are comfortable with the design tools it will be a great way to ease the burden of lesson planning. You will have peace of mind knowing that your students are working at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
2. PEER GAME REVIEW
Teachers now have the option of adding student created games to a private classroom library where other students in the class can play their peer games. This is a fun way to review any academic topic before a test.
3. CREATE AND MANAGE CLASSES
Teachers have the ability to create and manage classes. This streamlines the facilitation of Breakout EDU digital games.
4. ASSIGN DIGITAL GAMES TO STUDENTS
With a few clicks of the mouse teachers can now assign digital games to their classes. This makes for a perfect “do now” activity or formative assessment. Teachers can either choose pre-created games from the platform library or build their own using the digital game builder.
5. TRACK STUDENT RESULTS
Once you’ve created a class in your Breakout EDU account anytime your student completes one of the assigned digital games you will see the results. You can see how many puzzles they completed and how long it took them. You also have the ability to download the results to a spreadsheet.
The summer of 2018 was a busy one for our team and we’re excited to share what’s new with your Breakout EDU account.
Student Game Builder
With full platform access, teachers can now add classes and have their own students design digital Breakout EDU games. Students submit their games for approval and you can add them to a classroom library where students will be able to play their games. This is a perfect way to “level up” any classroom assignment.
Digital Subject Packs
We recently released more than 150 new digital Subject Pack games on the platform. With the class feature, teachers can quickly assign these games to your students and view their results.
New Breakout EDU Apps for Android and iOS!
Tags by Breakout EDU is a new app by allows you to quickly and easily scan custom Breakout EDU tags to play digital games right on your mobile device. In addition, there is a QR Code scanner and RFID Scanner to allow players to unlock game content.
We’re excited to be launching 140 new Breakout EDU digital subjects pack games and 60 new physical subject pack games. All games are included with Full Access to the Breakout EDU Platform. This brings the Breakout EDU game library to more than 800 games!
Below is the complete list of the new games that we released today. All of these games can be found through the search on the Breakout EDU Platform.
DIGITAL SUBJECT PACK GAMES
¡MANTÉN TUS OJOS EN EL CIELO! (World Languages) - Middle Grades
¿DÓNDE ESTÁ MI ROPA? (World Languages) - Middle Grades
20/20 VISION (French) (World Languages) - Middle Grades
20/20 VISION (SPANISH) (World Languages) - Middle Grades
A DAY AT THE CARNIVAL (Math) - Middle Grades
A DAY AT THE PARK (Math) - Elementary
A EUROPEAN VACATION (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
A NIGHT AT THE CIVIL WAR MUSEUM (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: WHO'S THAT QUADRILATERAL (Math) - Middle Grades
A PIRATE'S TALE (Science) - Middle Grades
A² + B² = ? (Math) - Middle Grades
AGENT GRAFFER: LEGEND OF THE MISSING COMPASS ROSE (Social Studies) - Elementary
AND THEY'RE OFF! (Math) - Elementary
AQUARIUM CONFUSION (Science) - Elementary
ARGUMENTATIVE AI (ELA) - High School
ATOM BLASTER (Science) - Middle Grades
BIGFOOT OR BIG PHONY? (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
BIO DOOM DIGITAL (Science) - Middle Grades, High School
BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER: IT’S A DUCK DISASTER! (ELA) - Elementary
BREAKING DIGITAL LOVE: ROMEO AND JULIET (ELA) - High School
BREAKOUT BUYS (Math) - Elementary
BUILDING BLUNDER (Math) - Middle Grades
BUTTERFLY BANDIT (Science) - Early Childhood
CAN WASHINGTON RETIRE? (Social Studies) - Elementary
CAN YOU SEE WHAT I HEAR? (Science) - Middle Grades
CAPTURE THE CO (Science) - High School
CAREER DAY (Math) - Elementary
CARNIVAL CONUNDRUM (Math) - Elementary
CARNIVAL GAME CRAZINESS (Math) - High School
CDC VIRUS OUTBREAK! (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
CITIZEN SCRAMBLE 2 (COMPANION GAME TO CITIZEN SCRAMBLE) (Social Studies) - Elementary
COMICS CRUSADER (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
CONTINENT CHAOS (Social Studies) - Elementary
COOKING WITH DATA (Math) - Elementary
COSMOLOGY CONNECTION (Science) - High School
CRAZY GADGETS, SIMPLE MACHINES PICNIC (Science) - Elementary
DAZED AND CONFUSED (World Languages) - Middle Grades
DEMASIADOS DEPORTES (World Languages) - Middle Grades
DISAPPEARING COINS (Math) - Elementary
DON'T FALL FOR THE PHISH! (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
EL AÑO DE MUCHAS FIESTAS. (World Languages) - Middle Grades
EL LLANTO (World Languages) - Middle Grades
ESCAPE THE BIG, BAD WOLF (ELA) - Early Childhood
EXCLAMATORY EVAN STRIKES AGAIN! (ELA) - Elementary
EXCURSION ISLAND (ELA) - Elementary
FAIRY TALES SOCIAL NETWORK (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
FIDO'S FRACTION FIASCO (Math) - Elementary
FILMORE'S FRENZY (Math) - Elementary
FUN HOUSE (Science) - Middle Grades
GAMER'S CHOICE (Math) - Elementary
GEOMETRY CONFUSION (Math) - Middle Grades
GERRY THE GEOGIRAFFE (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
GET TO THE ZOO! (Science) - Elementary
GLORIOUS GLACIER PARK CAMP (Social Studies) - Elementary
GRAND CANYON QUARTER CLUES (Social Studies) - Elementary
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Social Studies) - Elementary
GROWING LIKE A WEED (Science) - Middle Grades
GUADALUPE: A PUZZLE BEYOND EXPLANATION (World Languages) - Middle Grades
HABITAT HANG-UP 2 (Science) - Elementary
HAPPY TRAILS (Math) - Middle Grades
I'M HUNGRY! (Computer Science) - Elementary
IN LOVE WITH SHAPES (Math) - Early Childhood
INVESTIGATIVE DETECTIVE (General) - Middle Grades
IT'S NOT FICTION (ELA) - Elementary
KNOWLEDGE KNIGHTS! (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
LA CLASE - WHEN IS SUMMER BREAK? (World Languages) - Middle Grades
LE CRI (World Languages) - Middle Grades
LET THE GAMES BEGIN (Math) - Middle Grades
LET'S GO CAMPING! (Math) - Elementary
LIGHT PRE-GAME SNACK (Science) - High School
LOCKED CABINET DIGITAL (Science) - High School
LOST ON THE GRAMMAR TRAIL (ELA) - Middle Grades
LYRIC LOCKDOWN (ELA) - Middle Grades
MAKE IT COUNT (Math) - Early Childhood
MAP MISHAP (Social Studies) - Elementary
MAYHEM AT TRIXIE'S TOY STORE (Math) - Elementary
MENDELIA'S MILKSHAKE (Science) - High School
MR. BIG IDEAS: FRACTION ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION (Math) - Elementary
NUTRITION HERO (Science) - Elementary
OFF TO CAMP (Math) - Elementary
OLD MCDELL HAD A FARM (Computer Science) - Elementary
OUT OF THIS WORLD MEASUREMENTS (Math) - Elementary
OVERLOAD DAY (Computer Science) - Elementary
PANIC AT THE PIZZA PARLOR (Math) - Elementary
PARTS OF SPEECH PANIC! (ELA) - Elementary
PLANT-A-PALOOZA! (Science) - Elementary
PLAYGROUND FUN (Math) - Early Childhood
QUADRATIC QUANDARY (Math) - High School
RACE CAR (Science) - Middle Grades
RENEGADE ROOTS OF LATIN AND GREEK (ELA) - Middle Grades
RHYME RACE 1000 (ELA) - Elementary
ROADTRIP (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
ROCKIN' RECESS (Math) - Elementary
SANDY SITUATION (Science) - Middle Grades
SAVE THE CONSTITUTION (Social Studies) - Elementary
SAVE THE DAY (ELA) - Middle Grades
SAVE THE DINNER PARTY (Math) - Elementary
SAY WHAT? (ELA) - Elementary
SECRET AGENT MISSION (General) - Middle Grades
SECRET AGENT MISSION: FRACTIONS, DECIMALS, DECODE (Math) - Elementary
SECRET TREASURES (Computer Science) - Elementary
SEÑOR LORO SE VA DE VIAJE (World Languages) - Middle Grades
SIDEWAYS STORIES OF POLYGON HIGH (Math) - Elementary
SILLY GOOSE'S TIME ADVENTURE (Math) - Elementary
SO MUCH TO DO... SO LITTLE TIME (World Languages) - Middle Grades
SPACE RACE: SEARCH FOR ALIENS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM (Science) - Elementary
SPECIES SPY! (Library/Media Literacy) - Elementary
STAR BRIDE: THE STORY OF FEATHER WOMAN AND MORNINGSTAR (Science) - Elementary
STOVE HAT DOWN! (Social Studies) - Elementary
STUDENT SLEUTH (Science) - Middle Grades
TAKEOFF TROUBLE! (Science) - Elementary
THE CASE OF THE MISSING BASEBALL GEAR (ELA) - Elementary
THE CLOCKWORK CONUNDRUM (Science) - High School
THE GEOMETRY GIANT'S JEALOUSY (Math) - Elementary
THE IMPOSTER (Science) - Elementary
THE LOST PAGES (ELA) - Elementary
THE MAGICAL DICTIONARY (Library/Media Literacy) - Elementary
THE MATTER HATTER RETURNS! (Science) - Middle Grades
THE MYSTERY OF "LOCK-NESS" (ELA) - Elementary
THE MYSTERY OF PATTERNS (Math) - Elementary
THE MYSTERY OF SCARED NUMBER 6 (Math) - Early Childhood
THE ROCK ROBBERY (Science) - Middle Grades
THOMAS JEFFERSON LOST HIS QUILL (Social Studies) - Elementary
TIME TRAVELER (Library/Media Literacy) - Middle Grades
TRANSFORMATIONS: DR. EVILGON STRIKES AGAIN! (Math) - Middle Grades
TRAVEL TRICKS (Social Studies) - Elementary
UNLOCK THE LOST CHAMBER! (ELA) - Early Childhood
VACATE THE CAVE! (Science) - Middle Grades
VEXING VELOCITY (Math) - High School
VIDEO GAME CHALLENGE (ELA) - Elementary
WACKY WEATHER 2 (COMPANION TO WACKY WEATHER PHYSICAL GAME) (Science) - Early Childhood
WASHINGTON DC REVISION (Social Studies) - Elementary
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE (Science) - Elementary
WELCOME TO MY HOME (Science) - Middle Grades
WHODUNNIT? THE CASE OF THE MISSING LUNCH MONEY (World Languages) - Middle Grades
YOSEMITE BEAR WATCH (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
ZION LUGGAGE FIASCO (Social Studies) - Elementary
PHYSICAL SUBJECT PACK GAMES
APPLICATION:INCOMPLETE (General) - High School
RAIDERS OF THE LOST LOCKER (General) - Middle Grades
THE CASE OF THE HOMONYM HACKER (ELA) - Middle Grades
THE FACULTY LOUNGE (Professional Development) - Adult
A DAY OF Math?! (Math) - High School
A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN (ELA) - Elementary
ALIENS EXPLAIN ALTERNATE ENERGY (Science) - Middle Grades
ANIMAL SHELTER SHENANIGANS (Math) - Elementary
BACK TO SCHOOL BOOGIE (General) - Elementary
BORE TO THE CORE (Science) - High School
BREAKING DOWN AND BUILDING UP (Science) - High School
BREAKING LOVE: ROMEO AND JULIET (ELA) - High School
CARNIVAL CONFUSION (Math) - Elementary
CHECK YOUR FACTS: ELIMINATE OPINIONS (ELA) - Middle Grades
CONTAGION (Science) - High School
COSMOLOGY: THE BASICS (Science) - High School
COULOMB'S LAW: OPPOSITES ATTRACT (Science) - High School
CRUSADING CHRISTIANS: PASSAGE OF THE POPE (Social Studies) - High School
DIG INTO THE EARTH'S CRUST (Science) - High School
DR. PROMETHEUS AND THE SUPERHUMAN TRANSPLANT (CHANGED FROM BODY TREK: THE ULTIMATE VOYAGE ) (Science) - High School
EVERY INSECT HAS A JOB (Science) - Elementary
FARMYARD MIX UP (Math) - Elementary
FIND MY IDENTITY (Library/Media Literacy) - Elementary
GET THE HUBBLE BACK (Science) - High School
HABITAT HANG-UP (Science) - Elementary
HELP HANNAH FIND HER VOICE (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
INSECTS HAVE ESCAPED (Science) - Early Childhood
JOURNEY THROUGH THE STARS (Science) - Middle Grades
KEEPING UP WITH THE CONTINENTS (Science) - High School
KELLY THE SKELLY (Science) - Elementary
KING NIMROD'S TREASURE (Math) - High School
LENNY'S LOOKING FOR LUNCH (Science) - Elementary
MAGICAL MANOR (ELA) - Elementary
MALL MADNESS (Social Studies) - Elementary
MENDEL'S TIME CAPSULE (Science) - High School
NAUTICAL PROM (Math) - High School
NEW DESIGNS FOR NEW SAFETY (Science) - High School
PREVAIL THROUGH THE OREGON TRAIL (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
RHYME RACE 500 (ELA) - Elementary
ROOTED IN DEMOCRACY (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
SAVE THE BUSINESS (Social Studies) - Elementary
SICK TO THE NTH DEGREE (Math) - High School
SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT (Science) - Middle Grades
SOLID AS A ROCK (Science) - Middle Grades
TAMING THE WEST (Social Studies) - High School
THE FLOWER SHOP (Science) - High School
THE HUNT FOR SHADY SAM (Science) - High School
THE JEWEL HEIST (Science) - Middle Grades
THE LOST LUNCHBOX (Math) - Elementary
THE LOST PLOT (ELA) - High School
THE MATTER HATTER (Science) - Elementary
THE NEW CHRONICLE TAKEDOWN (ELA) - High School
THE SUPERB SCIENCE CHEF (Science) - Middle Grades
THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES (Social Studies) - Middle Grades
THINK BEFORE YOU POST (Computer Science) - Middle Grades
TRANSFORMATION PARK (Math) - High School
TREASURE HUNT (Social Studies) - Elementary
TRIANGLES ALONG THE NILE (Math) - Middle Grades
VIVA LA HUELGA (Social Studies) - High School
VOLCANO: CODE ORANGE! (Science) - High School
WACKY WEATHER (Science) - Early Childhood
WHETHER ITS WEATHERING OR EROSION (Science) - Middle Grades
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DANCE (ELA) - High School
We are continuing to work hard at making the Breakout EDU Platform even better. While a lot of that work is going on “behind the screens” to increase speed, cross-browser compatibility, search functionality, etc., we wanted to share with you some exciting improvements that we released this week.
Combination input spaces equal combination Answers
When we launched the platform we had designed the answer fields for the digital game locks to have 10 empty slots for all answers. If the answer to the puzzle was "CAT" the combination field would still have 10 possible slots for letters. After hearing from users that this was confusing we adjusted it so that the number of inputs in the answer equal to the number of inputs in the correct combination. So now, "CAT" would show 3 circles.
Drag and Drop Locks in Creation/Editing
When you are creating a Breakout EDU Digital Game or editing a game you have already created, you can now drag and drop the order of the locks.
Animated Gifs
We now accept Animated Gifs as an image type for Digital Game images. Like all images, the size needs to be 5MB or less.
Coming Soon
We are working on creating a robust search tool for the entire platform as well as some new lock types. Look for lots more features from us in the near future.
Bug Reporting / Feature Requests
We take every email to heart and every suggestion seriously. If you are having a problem on the site or have an idea that you want us to consider, please feel free to report it by filling out this form. Bug reports can be submitted at https://www.breakoutedu.com/bug - Feature suggestions can be sent to info@breakoutedu.com