Escape the Mundane Creating a digital escape room to engage students
By Matt Downs A
S A SCIENCE EDUCATOR, I am keenly aware that dealing with environmental issues is one of the most pressing concerns facing humanity. Experts
agree that most of today’s environmental concerns stem from individuals’ daily behavior, including their consumption and waste disposal.1
It is also widely understood that a popula-
tion’s participation in the proper disposal of domestic waste is essential to a well-run waste management system.2 Recycling has emerged as one of the most promising
approaches to preventing solid waste from being deposited into landfills.3
This is likely due to the fact that recycling is a
relatively simple behavior to maintain and is both economi- cally feasible and environmentally beneficial.4 Recently, I conducted a study with middle schoolers in my
district to determine their recycling knowledge and behav- iors. My results indicated that students consider recycling to be important and understand why it is important. However, these same students actually did not know what could and could not be recycled at school. Additionally, results indi- cated that students would recycle more with clearer guide- lines and by better understanding how recycling helps them. Ultimately, this led me to develop a way to improve student participation in correctly and proactively participating in school-wide recycling.
The challenge for me became how to get students to
understand the district recycling guidelines and the benefits of recycling, while also keeping them engaged. As a mid- dle school teacher, three words always come to mind when thinking about how to engage middle schoolers: movement, cooperation, and technology. In order for the students to make these strong, meaningful connections, I needed a lesson where students had the freedom to move, construct their own learning by interacting with peers, and use relevant technol- ogy, while having a great deal of fun. In order to accomplish this, I created a digital escape room.
What is a digital escape room? Many people are familiar with traditional escape rooms, as they have been around for almost a decade. For those who are not, escape rooms are fun, cooperative strategy games that challenge players to solve a series of riddles using clues and hints to complete certain objectives, often in several different rooms. Digital escape rooms involve many of the same ele- ments, but because they are created using Google Forms, they have the added benefit of not requiring set-up of special props or purchasing of lock boxes. I have used digital escape rooms in my classroom for about a year to introduce and assess con- cepts, with students responding positively during those expe- riences. What follows is an explanation for what makes an effective digital escape room and instructions on how to cre-
Green Teacher 121 Page 19
Photos by
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