Mathematical Escapes

Students in Theresa Roche’s pre-algebra classes puzzled their way out of the winter term, solving equations and word problems to navigate escape rooms designed by their classmates.

Each student chose an engaging and relatable theme for their escape room, like an amusement park, Santa’s workshop, a major league ballpark, or an airport. Using Google Slides, they created an opening page to establish the setting. Then, they designed at least six pages, each representing a room, containing a minimum of five problems to solve. Visitors to the escape room had to solve each problem and type the letter corresponding to the correct answer into an answer box, creating a code allowing them to move on to the next room. An incorrect answer required students to go back and check all their work and find any mistakes. The escape rooms offered students an enjoyable and challenging way to practice and review math skills acquired in the fall and winter terms as they created the escape rooms and then navigated the rooms designed by classmates. During the final week of classes, students gathered in small groups to try different escape rooms, working through equations and problems on portable whiteboards as they tried to solve their way through each room. Among other skills, the escape rooms allowed students to demonstrate their facility with exponents, powers, the distributive property, writing expressions, and one and two-step equations. 

Whether a student finds math easy or more challenging, the escape room project enabled them to incorporate talents like storytelling and design skills to strengthen their projects, notes Theresa. “It allowed students to show their creativity, which is not something they can do as frequently in math class.”