Google Forms Escape Rooms for Secondary Students
Who doesn’t love the suspense of an escape room? Digital escape rooms are a great option if you don’t have time to deal with the setup of a classroom escape room because they are on the computer. Although, with online escape rooms they often will have to write on paper, talk to their partner, and keep focused on the clues.
If you haven’t tried a virtual escape room, you are going to love them and so will the kids! The way we set them up is in an escape room in Google Form that is linked to Google slides. This article by Edutopia explains the benefits of these learning tools.
- The student or small group of students is assigned a Google Form with instructions and links.
- Each link takes them to a “clue” that needs to be “cracked”. They must type the code on the Google Form in order to move to the next link. If they get the answer wrong, they receive an error message.
- You will copy and paste the link to each clue in the Google form as a new question as seen below:
- The clues are Google Slides that require a forced copy by each student. It is helpful to have students prepare with a piece of paper and something to write with to help them record information.
- Once they complete all of the clues they are finished with the escape room.
- You will want to include the answer so that students get an error message if they are incorrect. The image below shows you how to do this so they have to have the correct answer to move on to the next question.
How We Create the Digital Breakout Rooms
Here is a video explaining how we set up our digital escape rooms in Google Forms and what students will see as they play.
Free Escape Games Online
Here is a free virtual escape room to help you get an idea! This digital escape room is great for middle school students learning the basics of babysitting in a family consumer science, child development or life skills class. You can assign this as a sub plan, independent work or just for fun!
What is great about these types of activities is they can be done independently or in small groups and require attention to the task for an entire class period. Each of the ones I make takes middle school and high school students about 40 minutes.
When to Use Digital Escape Rooms
- Sub plans– these are great to use when you have to be out of the classroom and are easy to assign with a substitute. Leaving an answer key is always a good idea so the sub can help the students.
- Independent work– days you need the kids to be busy and engaged so you can do general classroom “housekeeping” and grading.
- Assessment– yes, you can use them to assess your students! These can be either a formative assessment or a summative assessment.
- Back to school activity or Icebreaker– online escape rooms can be a great way for students to build relationships and create a positive classroom culture.
- Early finisher work– when students finish early or you are rotating when students cook, you can have a digital escape room as an early finisher assignment that is ongoing. Students can come back to work on the same one over the course of a week as they finish the main classroom content early.
Are you looking for other fun instructional activities for your middle school or high school students?
⭐ Check out our blog post on 4 instructional strategies that will enhance your teaching.
⭐ Check out our blog post on using choice boards in the secondary classroom as well.
