Break out of Your Routine with Escape Rooms

Educational escape rooms (ER) are an instructional activity designed to incorporate many elements of recreational ERs, which have become popular in recent years. There are many reasons to consider incorporating educational ERs into K-12 math instruction or after-school programs/camps. First, they are highly motivating for students because they engage them in game-like elements, including solving puzzles (Stohlmann, 2020). Second, education ERs foster teamwork and communication and encourage productive struggle (Borrego et al., 2017; Fotaris & Mastoras, 2019). Third, educational ERs can help students explore mathematical concepts in a fun way; however, it is important to ensure that ER puzzles are aligned with relevant learning goals and content standards (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2014). Based on the literature, the main obstacles to incorporating ERs into instruction seem to be that teachers view educational ERs as too complicated, costly, and time-consuming to develop. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide a step-by-step process teachers can follow to efficiently design high-quality educational ERs without breaking the bank. The authors use their elementary-level Treasure Hunt example to illustrate our ER design process, but this process can be applied across all grades and involve a variety of context.