in October of 2017 I had the strangest idea... What if we made the goal of activity to FINISH the activity? There would have to be challenges along the way, red herrings, and dead ends. I would need to keep the path from beginning to end in a non-linear fashion and give students chances to make mistakes and recover.
Yes, I know, it sounded a lot like Labyrinth (R.I.P. David Bowie), but I decided instead to go with an escape room style activity like the ones you see popping up in malls everywhere and in classrooms courtesy of Breakout Edu. I wanted to make use of all of the tools available in Desmos but found that through the computation layer there were a few components (mainly labs and marble slides) that I would not be able to use to control the path. Instead I came to the realization that I had stumbled across an idea not meant to create quality lessons as much as use to develop the use of CL. Here's what I came up with
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1) Use the card sort concept in a graph to make comparisons. Make things especially difficult by changing how images move or even what direction they move in.
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2) Use hints in the notes to direct students to different screens in different order. Additionally, provide riddles or clues so that students can be incorrect and possibly go on to the incorrect screen.
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3) Use random generator to create a quick set of questions that need to be answered. Additionally, use memes and other fun things to keep students interested. This screen by far was the screen I was least proud of as it offered very little challenge and room for growth, both for me and my students.
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4) What happens when you go on to a screen early? Lock the screen of course!
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5) Create interesting interactions like adjusting slope and y-intercept separately to make a line pass through a column in the graph.
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6) Provide a rewarding ending for students... In the first iteration there was no scoring system. Fun story, a teacher at a workshop I attended tried the activity 8 times to outscore her friend before I told her that points were randomly generated!
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If you want to try this activity you can find it here:
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5a1e5ed52290ad2d60ee9f27
Since that first activity I have released 10 more with multiple variations on each of them. There are also a few available in French as well!
From a creation standpoint Breakout! Desmos has been invaluable to my lesson creation. Things like the streak counter, screen locks, unique animations, graph interactions, and even algorithm simplification that I used in real lessons all began here in breakout. However, it was the popularity of the activities for use in the classroom that caught me off guard. To make a long story short people started using them!
This led me to question the quality of the activities themselves. I have always stressed that these lessons were designed for fun, but I have seen examples of any teachers using them as review or introduction activities. This prompts me to think back to the Desmos Building Principles and how I can address them in these activities. How can I create conversation, ask for informal analysis, delay feedback, and allow students to be right and wrong in different and interesting ways? I spoke with several teachers and a few things came out as successful strategies to implement a breakout! activity:
1) Have students work in groups
2) "Randomize" or mix up groups to make students work with others they are less comfortable with
3) Most importantly, use pause and pacing to encourage discourse in the classroom.
Some teachers like @pejorgens are AMAZING at class discourse, but what about the rest of us? Here's where I need your help, #MTBoS. What can we do to make these activities that began just as an exercise in CL into GREAT ACTIVITIES? More support for teachers via guides and webinars? Templates or complementary activities to collect student reflections? Alternate forms of these activities that include more reflective questions? What about follow up activities that provide a better student experience than what is given in these breakout activities?
I also have another request... Whats stopping us from bringing these activities out of the screen?
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5a1e5ed52290ad2d60ee9f27
Since that first activity I have released 10 more with multiple variations on each of them. There are also a few available in French as well!
From a creation standpoint Breakout! Desmos has been invaluable to my lesson creation. Things like the streak counter, screen locks, unique animations, graph interactions, and even algorithm simplification that I used in real lessons all began here in breakout. However, it was the popularity of the activities for use in the classroom that caught me off guard. To make a long story short people started using them!
This led me to question the quality of the activities themselves. I have always stressed that these lessons were designed for fun, but I have seen examples of any teachers using them as review or introduction activities. This prompts me to think back to the Desmos Building Principles and how I can address them in these activities. How can I create conversation, ask for informal analysis, delay feedback, and allow students to be right and wrong in different and interesting ways? I spoke with several teachers and a few things came out as successful strategies to implement a breakout! activity:
1) Have students work in groups
2) "Randomize" or mix up groups to make students work with others they are less comfortable with
3) Most importantly, use pause and pacing to encourage discourse in the classroom.
Some teachers like @pejorgens are AMAZING at class discourse, but what about the rest of us? Here's where I need your help, #MTBoS. What can we do to make these activities that began just as an exercise in CL into GREAT ACTIVITIES? More support for teachers via guides and webinars? Templates or complementary activities to collect student reflections? Alternate forms of these activities that include more reflective questions? What about follow up activities that provide a better student experience than what is given in these breakout activities?
I also have another request... Whats stopping us from bringing these activities out of the screen?
Desmos Breakout “Escape Room” Activities = Amazing Review https://t.co/RbFix9Cpat S/O @mrchowmath ! #MTBoS #iteachmath @Desmos pic.twitter.com/OvwzVDtiSV
— Cathy Yenca (@mathycathy) April 28, 2018
@mathycathy did a super cool job of breaking students into groups before guiding them through one of the activities and even allowing them to pose for picture after, but I want to make something prepackaged, preferably digital or printable that again, improves the student experience. Let me know, #MTBoS, and I can make it for you!
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