Scaffolded Math and Science: Digital Math Escape Rooms

Wowza, what a school year. Whether your students are working independently in your classroom or distance learning from home, I wanted to make some super-engaging digital math activities to get students excited about practicing their math. These new digital math escape rooms have been built in Google Forms with no outside links. The directions are simple -- enter a 4-letter code to advance to the next puzzle -- so students can focus all of their energy on their math.

Because the sudden, widespread need for digital math activities, I updated many of my printable math materials to also include digital versions. You can see those here. I have also recently been creating some digital-only math activities to work in Google Slides and Google Forms. One of the newest activity types I've been making in Google Forms are these digital math escape rooms.

I have been getting some great feedback on these digital math escape rooms:

"I've been using escape rooms from other authors. I love them but there has been some problems with the digital ones. My students were unable to access the website to see if they had the correct code. They don't have to do that with this one. It's all right there in google forms. This has been a lifesaver. I am looking forward in purchasing more of these escape rooms." -Kathleen S

This feedback made me happy to read because it was exactly what I had hoped these digital math escape rooms would be-- engaging, easy to access for all and timesavers for teachers.

How do these digital math escape rooms work?

Each digital math escape room has been built in Google Forms with no outside links. Everything is housed within the Google Form. This way you can collect student data and never worry that a link will be blocked or broken.

Each escape room consists of 5 puzzles. In each puzzle there are 4 questions to answer. Once students answer the 4 questions, they find their answers in the answer choices grid. This will generate a 4-letter code. Entering that code into the answer box on the Form will unlock the lock. There are 5 locks to unlock.

You can see all of the digital math escape rooms I have made so far here:

DIGITAL MATH ESCAPE ROOMS

I am making more each week. If there is a topic you need, I am happy to make it for you (and send it to you for free as a thank you for your suggestion). My email is shana@scaffoldedmath.com or you can leave a comment here.

Quick note: If your students do not have Google logins, but you do have access to your own Google Drive at school, you can still use these digital math escape rooms (or any Google Form). Students do not need to log into Google to complete a Google Form. As long as you can house it on your own Google Drive, you can send it as an assignment for students to complete without the need for student Google accounts.

Differentiating digital math escape rooms:

Answer-validation is great for challenging kids and getting them super excited to crack each puzzle's code! However, some kids may become frustrated by getting the codes wrong too many times. If you have students like this, students who thrive on partial credit, there is an easy way to differentiate these digital escape rooms for specific students. It's as simple as making a copy of the Form and removing the answer-validation from all or some of the puzzles. This differentiated version can then be sent only to students who need the extra support while other students get the original version.

First: Make a copy of the digital math escape room

You can rename the copy by adding "- no validation" to the end of the file name. Students will not see this name when you send the escape room so they will not know they are getting a different version.

Next: Open the copy and remove the answer-validation

Open the copy and click into the area that reads "Short answer text" under each puzzle image. When you do this, a toggle button Required will appear. Click this button off.

Last: Sending the digital escape room to students

Now that you have 2 versions of the escape room, you can send the original version to students who will enjoy the challenge of cracking each code, and the "- no validation" version to students who could use the help of partial credit.

TIP: You can remove the answer-validation on all or only some of the puzzles. Maybe you want students to definitely crack at least 2 puzzles. In this case, you can keep the answer validation on the first 2 puzzles and take it off on the last 3 puzzles. Or you can keep the validation on the first 4 puzzles and take it off of the 5th puzzle. It's up to you and what you feel your students need to be successful.