Are Math Escape Rooms Effective?
Are you looking for a new, fun, and effective way to review math facts and functions with your students? Are you tired of the same old math games? While tried and true and sometimes fun, Around-the-World and Fact Quizzes get a bit old. Do you need something fresh and exciting to teach so you don’t beat your head against the wall? How about your students? Do they need a more fun way to learn math and review math knowledge so they stay awake in your class? I know it feels like I’m talking directly to some of you.
Ready for my big idea to help turn your math time around? Try out an engaging and educational math escape room with your class!
What is a math escape room?
A math escape room is an interactive resource where your students solve clues, riddles, and puzzles to complete a challenge and escape from a room
Back up. What is an escape room?
An escape room began life on this earth as a physical room you have to escape with your friends/coworkers/family. It is a team-building exercise where everyone has to work together to solve made-up riddles, find hidden clues, and solve puzzles in order to “escape” a room. (Yes, you can always get out of the room in an emergency, but the fun part is working together to find the key and get out of the room.) An escape room is usually timed and it is an enjoyable experience. If you haven’t participated in a physical escape room, I would recommend searching for one in your area!
How are math escape rooms different in a classroom?
Math escape rooms in a classroom obviously have to be a bit different. We do not have experts to come in and transform a classroom for a group of students to physically escape a room. Math escape rooms are digital or printable resources your students can solve together. There are still riddles, puzzles, clues, and more importantly in a math escape room, math problems to work through. A math escape room makes math facts, reviews, and test prep much more exciting than the boring methods of flashcards, around-the-world, and in-class math reviews.
Math Escape Rooms
Math escape rooms come in the homemade, or DIY variety, and you can use the material your students need to study or practice to come up with some pretty great activities. However, I imagine you have stumbled upon this article because you are looking for some ready-made math escape rooms and activities. If that is so, I have some great suggestions for you.
Math Escape Rooms can be found here. At Think Tank Teacher, we have so many escape rooms available for teachers like you that you would be hard-pressed to NOT find exactly what you need. Here are a few examples of math-specific escape rooms you will want to check out.
Each one of these escape rooms is printable and ready to go, no prep for you! You will find math problems, stations and decoders, instructions, answer keys, and options for different ways to play based on how many students you have. These escape rooms are great tools for you as a teacher to use as pre-assessments, unit reviews, teamwork activities, and reward activities.
Order of Operations Escape Room
2 Digit Multiplication Escape Room
Escape Rooms with Hidden Math Skills
Most escape rooms have elements of math embedded in them, no matter what their subject matter. If you are looking for a great way to sneak math into your school day, check out some of the Escape Rooms available. There are history, reading, writing, science, and of course math escape rooms that I have created as a part of my Think Tank Teacher library of resources. I know that they will be a fun addition to your classroom. Each one has puzzles, riddles, codes, and patterns to solve in order to accomplish the goal and escape from the room.
You need math escape rooms in your classroom!
The bottom line is, math escape rooms would be a great addition to your classroom. Whether you are looking for review material, help to teach new material, or just a fun and educational activity for your students, these math escape rooms are the way to go! Please go check out the collection of math escape rooms designed for teachers just like you and your classroom today!
