Are Educational Escape Rooms a Fad?
You have probably given escape rooms a try in your classroom, or at least thought about it. Escape rooms are growing in all areas and even more so in the educational world. But is it just a passing fad? Or something that is here to stay?
Giving learners control
I strongly believe that escape rooms and gamification in general, are only just getting going and are here to stay for quite a while! The reason I believe this, relates to how I have seen children react to game like elements in the classroom. Giving learners control over aspects of their learning they never had before is incredibly motivating.
As a teacher I am also aware that fads in the classroom do come and go and while it may be the thing everyone is doing right now, it doesn’t mean it is the best thing to do. I completely agree that there is no one size fits all in anything related to teaching, but I also think this is what makes escape rooms so perfect. You can differentiate them, change the puzzles and the challenges. You can use them on or off line depending on your learners’ needs. Probably the most telling thing of all, you can let the students guide the learning. Let them figure out what level they need to be at and how they will progress to overcome obstacles. This kind of autonomy is what motivates.
Keeping learners’ attention is key
In the current digital age, attention spans have become shorter and shorter. Keeping the attention of an adult is hard enough, with children it becomes nearly impossible. Gamification is the way education can adapt to this problem. We can keep their attention by the changing of objectives, by the goal setting and rewards and, my personal favourite, by the accomplishment of solving challenges and games.
Making escape rooms for educational purposes
Escape rooms are continuing to grow in popularity both in and out of the classroom, this means if you are making escape rooms for educational purposes, even if you do believe it is a fad, you are part of a current rising trend and I think it is for the better!
We cannot know if escape rooms will eventually be taken over by something bigger and better, but for the time being I wouldn’t count on them disappearing any time soon.
If you would like to try out a free escape room made just for teachers, to teach teachers how to teach with escape rooms! Click on the picture below 😊
