Game Based Learning - Escape From Oz

This is the design for an escape room. Students should finish reading the book Wizard of Oz prior to playing in this escape room. Escape rooms in classrooms can be as complex or as simple as the teacher wants. Setup for this is extensive, but could easily be simplified using colored tape on the floor as "rooms" or having the teacher hold onto things rather than investing in several lock boxes.

Overview

This game is a literary escape room for The Wizard of Oz. Students will have to put themselves into the story and the world of Oz. Students will showcase their reading comprehension and new English vocabulary by finding clues, solving puzzles, and answering questions to complete their task before the time runs out and they are stuck in Oz forever!

Instructional Objective

The instructional objective is to use a text with which the students are already familiar (The Wizard of Oz), combined with the engaging and novel Escape Room activity, to allow for learners to achieve flow state while gaining a deeper understanding of English literature and literacy.

SMART Goal

80% of teams will complete the Escape Room in the 45 minute time limit without assistance, including 5 minutes at the end for the activity reflection. This SMART goal has been selected based on the teacher’s understanding of the students’ proficiency levels, but may be adjusted upon reflection for future teaching.

This activity is relevant because it gives students opportunity to hone their 21st Century skills. Also, students have already become familiar with the literary themes and characters in The Wizard of Oz, and now they can use this schema for practicing and performing Common Core State Standards (CCSS) such as conventions of grammar and foundational reading skills and Anchor Standards for Language and Literacy. Through the Escape Room activity students will be formatively assessed in groups to indicate to the teacher how close students are to mastery of reading comprehension.

There is a possibilty that students will complete the puzzles without internalizing the grammar rules/functions, or that individual team members will complete the Escape Room based on the strength of their group, therefore the Teacher should prepare a Secondary summative assessment to be given individually.

Standards – Common Core State Standards, ELA, Language & Literacy Standards

l College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard for Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

l CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

l CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.3.A

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words using combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

l CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4.A

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

l CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4.C

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understnding, rereading as necessary.

l 21st Century Skills

Collaboration

Creative problem solving

Critical thinking

Learners

This activity is designed for grade 4-6 students, ages 9-12 native-English speakers or EAL students with similar English proficiency receiving international school education in China.

Motivation

The use of educational games has been shown to increase student motivation (Borrega et al, 2016). Students often find reading comprehension tricky and tedious, however, games are engaging and a range of constructs have been proposed to explain the positive experiences of the game-players: “flow [5,6], immersion [7], presence [8] and arousal” (Kiili et al, 2012, p. 79). Flow is defined as “a state of optimal experience and maximal concentration” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Therefore a specific goal of using this Escape Room activity is to engage the students doing something fun, to increase their motivation and willingness to learn, while learning something serious, in this case understanding literature. Furthermore, moving from rudimentary or fundamental knowledge to “command of conventions of standard English grammar and usage” indicates achieving a level of mastery. This requires additional practice in novel and interesting ways to increase student motivation/engagement, and the Escape Room allows for extended practice that is at once edifying and fun.

The variety of questions is helpful for student engagement, but the most potent motivating factor is the objective to “escape” by solving the clues. This would constitute the external motivation—solve the clues and win the game. However, because Escape Rooms are foremost about the player experience, the challenges can help students develop their intrinsic motivation to learn and explore (Nicholson, 2018). The students will complete a reflection at the conclusion of the Escape Room Activity which will give the teacher a direct indication of their level of engagement and persistence (Eukel et al, 2017).

Some students may not be familiar with Escape Rooms (for non-educational purposes or otherwise) so this might be the first time for some of them. However, the learning curve is shallow and working collaboratively will help students overcome anxiety of the unknown.

Context of Use

This type of game would likely be used as a consolidation activity. It is not crucial to instruction, but assists with their overall understanding and gives an indication of their comprehension. It could be used as a form of group assessment, though the team aspect of it would cloud any individual results.

Scope

This game will be quite big and include many props and puzzles. Although some teams may not finish within the time limit, it should take approximately 45 minutes (one school period).

It includes 3 “rooms” and several different characters to interact with, both human and computer. Human roles can all be played by the teacher, or could be a TA or other teacher willing to help out for one class. Beyond the classroom, this game includes reflection and discussion prompts as well as suggested homework for students to complete afterwards.

Object of the Game

If students complete all the puzzles – using their knowledge of the story – which lead to the final challenge and find the ruby slippers within the time limit, they win the game and get to go home! If they don’t, they are stuck in Oz forever!

Design Details

Before the class begins, the classroom will be split into several “rooms” using curtains. See illustration.

Dotted lines = curtain walls.

Door = where the curtains split to allow entry to the next room.

Students will arrive at the classroom and see only a sign on the door that says “you have been blown to Oz.” When class begins, the teacher will open the door and as you enter, there will be a key on a table. Students must search the room they are in for the box the key opens. Once they find it, they will open the box to find an encrypted message and a blank encryption key.

The teacher will then open the curtain to the next room, leaving it open so that students can go back to the first room. Students must search the two rooms for clues to help them fill in the encryption key and then solve the encryption. The encryption will be a magic word which the students say to summon Glinda the good witch.

Example:

Glinda (who could be a TA, helpful teacher, or the class teacher – now suddenly wearing a tiara) appears and hands the students another box. She explains that to get back they will have to click the Ruby Slippers and say, “there’s no place like home.” Unfortunately, the box is locked, and Glinda has forgotten how to open it. She hands the students a piece of paper with some writing on it and says that when she locked the box, she wrote this to help her remember how to open it. Since then, she has also forgotten how to use the paper, but some of the words are spelled wrong. Maybe that is the key? She thinks it will help them reach the Emerald City where the Wizard of Oz can help them.

Students will receive a paper with a short riddle or limerick on it (with several words spelled incorrectly) as well as a set of boxes like this:

Students must identify the misspelled vocabulary words and write them in correctly. The letters in the grey boxes spell the answer to the puzzle.

The curtain which leads to the next “room” will have the “bell out of order, please knock” sign from the Emerald City. If students knock on this before answering the puzzle, the doorman (TA or teacher or a recording if you’ve got a device like a cell phone which can play different recorded responses) will tell them they need the password to enter. Once they have solved the puzzle, they should tell the doorman the password, who will then let them into the Emerald City.

Inside the Emerald City, students will find a table with four headings taped down. The headings are: Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion. Along with these headings are many pieces of paper scattered all over the floor (possibly hidden a little, though still visible). The papers are all elements from the story pertaining to only one of the main characters (quotes, things they saw, things they did, items they used, etc.). Each card will also have a giant letter on it. Example:

is afraid of fire D

This would go under the scarecrow heading.

Students must sort these cards according to the characters they go with and then unscramble the words in each column. For example, the cards that go under the heading “Dorothy,” may have the letters D, R, E, N, and U. Unscrambled, this spells UNDER. A possible solution may be, “under teacher’s desk chair” or “teacher’s second desk drawer.”

When students look in the specified location they will find a button. If they push the button, the projector will come to life with the Wizard of Oz on it. He says that he will help the students if they can answer his questions. This could be done either through interactive whiteboard using a PPT or through actual magic. The questions will function like a multiple choice quiz (vocabulary, reading comprehension, whatever you want to focus on) with each answer having a corresponding letter. Rather than a) b) c) d), answers may be:

a) an axe w) a cup p) 4 ducks i) my brother’s smelly socks

The answers to the questions would then spell out the password. Once students submit the correct password (they may need to go through the questions again if they get it wrong), the wizard will tell them that they are worthy of helping save the story of Oz. He will then explain that after Dorothy left Oz, the local newspaper tried to write the story of her heroic deeds, but they got the details of the story all messed up. Each paragraph of the story contains several wrong details. The article will be displayed on the projector and students can write directly on the projection. If students can identify how many mistakes there are in every paragraph, that number should open the combination lock to the Ruby Slippers box and let them all go home.

If students can identify the number of mistakes in each paragraph, that number will open the box and allow them to get out the Ruby Slippers and a note that says, “Click these together and say ‘There’s no place like home.’” The students have now completed the escape room and made it back.

Follow up activities/discussion/homework could include a reflection of the quote “there’s no place like home.” You may also give your students a copy of the incorrect newspaper article and ask them to correct all the details, or for stronger students, to rewrite the summary completely.

Students should feel like they are a part of the story and actually in the world of Oz. There should be decorations and helpful characters with costumes if possible (assume all this is possible). There should be a sense of urgency to the whole thing as it is time sensitive. A countdown should always be visible.

Design Process

I love escape rooms and had just been talking with a colleague about an escape room he was planning for last week. I made a plan to observe his lesson and see how it worked which fit perfectly with this assignment.

The process was more straightforward than I thought, due to the fact that I had the example from my colleague which he purchased from Presto Plans on Teachers Pay Teachers. The puzzles were easy to adapt into literary puzzles and questions, but the accompanying story and ways to get from one puzzle to the next were a bit harder to invent.

References

Template notes: The elements and outline of this template borrow significantly from templates used in Dr. Bernie Dodge’s course Exploratory Learning Through Educational Simulation and Games at San Diego State University, http://edweb2.net/ldt670/.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. Jossey-Bass, San Franciso.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row.

Kiili, K. & Lainema, T. (2008). Foudation for measuring engagement in education games. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(3), pp. 469-488.

Kiili, K., de Freitas, S., Arnab, S., & Lainema, T. (2012). The design principles for flow experience in educational games. Procedia Computer Science, 15, pp. 78-91. Retrieved on June 4, from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050912008228/pdf?md5=6f385f5ae8545ab781c59d7e93651693&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050912008228-main.pdf

Eukel, H., Frenzel, J., Cernusca, D., (2017). Educational gaming for pharmacy students: Design and evaluation of a diabetes-themed escape room. Amereican Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 81(7), article 6265. Retrieved on June 4, 2019 from: https://www.ajpe.org/doi/pdf/10.5688/ajpe8176265

Jennett, C., Cox, A.L., Cairns, P., Dhoparee, S., Epps, A., Tijs, T., & Walkton, A., (2008). Measuring and defining the experience of immersion in ghames. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 66(9), pp. 641-661.

Borrego, C., Fernandez, C., Blanes, I., & Robles, S., (2016). Room escape at class: Escape games activities to facilitate the motivation and learning in computer science. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 7(2) pp. 162-171. Retrived on June 4, 2019 from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1145146.pdf

Dodge, B. (n.d.). EDTEC 670: Exploratory Learning Through Educational Simulation and Games. Retrieved December 28, 2014, from http://edweb2.net/ldt670/

Dodge, B. (2002), ET670 Design Template. Retrieved 2002, from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/FinalProjectsF02.html. (URL no longer valid.)

Nicholson, S., (2018). Creating engaging escape games for the classroom. Childhood Education, 94(1), pp. 44-49. Retrieved on June 3, 2019 from: http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/escapegamesclassroom.pdf