Escaping Low Engagement in the classroom
start.
Open the letter
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
map/missions
THIS IS YOUR STORY: Your classroom has been taken over by the dreaded villain Low Engagement. Students are distracted, participation is down, and learning is at risk! Your mission is to break out of Low Engagement’s trap before it’s too late.Work together with your team to solve clues, unlock strategies, and escape the trap. Every puzzle you solve will reveal a key insight to boost student engagement and bring learning back to life. If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! Good luck!
Mission 01
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission 05
Hattie's Visible Learning
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Before you can escape Low Engagement’s trap, you need to know which strategies actually move the needle on student learning. The world’s leading educational researcher, John Hattie, has studied millions of students and identified which teaching practices have the biggest impact. Your job is to decode his findings and uncover which strategies are most powerful.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Decode the Clues: You’ll find statements or clues around the room about different instructional strategies.
- Rank the Impact: Use Hattie’s research (Effect Size) to decide which strategies have the highest impact on student engagement and achievement.
- Submit Your Code: On the next page, put your code in order if you are correct you will be able to move on to your next missions
Research
Next
Hattie's Visible Learning
Research
Cracking the Code Put the Strategies in the correct oder to crack your first code. This is one the levels you can use in your class to improve engagement!
Next
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission Complete!
Mission 05
Class Discussions
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Low Engagement has silenced student voices! To escape, you must bring back meaningful discussion and help students take charge of their learning. Around the room you will find qr codes where you can read and learn more about discussion strategies. Before getting started, watch this video on the importantance of discussions. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Decode the Clues: You’ll find QR around the room for different dicussion strategies.
- Unscramble: Once you read through each strategy you will get a letter. Once you find all once you find all 7 letters unscramble them to make a word
- Submit Your Code: Using the word find the number code for you to get out of this rooom
Watch this!
Next
Form the code
I got it!
Drag the letters into this space and form the answer to the previous riddle.
Password?
Knock on the door, enter the code you found based on the letters, and you will get the first letter you need to open the briefcase.
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission Complete!
Mission 05
Claity, Ownership and Motivation
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Effective engagement happens when students know exactly what they’re learning (Clarity), take responsibility for their own progress (Ownership), and feel inspired to keep going (Motivation).
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Put each word into its corresponding category
- Check with the facilitator before moving on
Read this!
Next
Drag each key word to the concept it belongs to
Goals
Choice
Innovation
Monitoring
Encouragement
Real World Connection
Criteria for Success
Rubrics
Reflection
Motivation
Ownership
Clarity
Next
Solution
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission Complete!
Mission 04
Mission 05
Feedback
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Feedback and engagement in the classroom are deeply connected because effective feedback drives motivation, relevance, and active learning. Your next mission is determine which type of feedback really helps to drive student learning. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Decode the Clues: You will listen out for the types of feedback in a class.
- Learn about feedback: Learn about different types of feedback. Once you read about things you will unclock the code that gives your next clue.
- Submit Your Code: Using the word more letters to get you closer to opening the briefcase.
Next
It seems that one of the clues in this class, listen carefully to the conversations, they may be useful to you later...
Listen carefully
Continue
Pay attention to the conversation to get the answers to the questions in the next mission
How many times does the teacher give feedback?
First question
Read about the different types of feedback. The one that best helps support student learning will help you solve the puzzle
Second question
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Process Feedback
Task Feedback
Title
Praise
You share that the answer is right or wrong
You share an idea for how to improve
Write a brief description here
Feedback targeted more to feelings and emotions
Info
Next
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission Complete!
Mission 04
Mission 05
Metacognition
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Reading: Read the set of strategy descriptions provided.
- Match: Match each description with the correct metacognitive practice card
- Match the pictures: Use the descriptions to help you match the pictures to the metagocnitive strategy.
- Submit Your Code: Once all pairs are matched correctly, you will uncover a hidden letter or number clue.
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Metacognition means “thinking about your own thinking.” Research shows that when students monitor, reflect, and plan their learning, they stay more engaged and achieve more. Your next mission is to unlock the power of metacognition — the ability to think about your own thinking. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
Read about the Strategies
Drag the images to the corresponding strategy
Do you have it?
Peer Teaching
Think Aloud
Reflective Journal
SelfQuestioning
Next
Drag to find out the picture to the corresponding strategy you need.
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
You are almost there, you are just touching your secret agent badge with your fingers...
Mission 01
Mission 02
Mission 01
Mission 03
Mission 02
Mission 04
Mission 03
Mission 04
Final Mission
Mission 05
Mission 05
Password?
What is the password?
Enter the correct numbers
Mission accomplished!
Date: 20XX
First Last Name
Secret Agent
S.P.Y
You have been promoted to escaped low engagement! Congratulations!
Are you giving up?You were very close to becoming a real secret agent
If you leave, you will have to start over again Are you sure you want to leave?
Continue
Exit
Here you can put a standout title
Need more reasons to create dynamic content? Well: 90% of the information we assimilate comes to us through sight, and we retain 42% more information when the content moves. What you read: interactivity and animation can make even the most boring content fun. At Genially, we use AI (Awesome Interactivity) in all our designs, so you can level up with interactivity and turn your content into something that adds value and engages.
This video discussions the importance of classroom discussons and its impact on teaching and learning!
Check in with the faciliator before moving on!!!
Students engage more deeply when they know exactly what they are learning, why it matters, and what success looks like.
Students are most engaged when they take responsibility for their learning — setting goals, monitoring progress, and reflecting on strategies. Ownership fosters independence and long-term success
Matching
Read the description and metacognitive strategies and then match the corresponding ones. Once you have the matches you will use it to try and match the picture to the corresponding picture.
Matching Game
Make sure you have listened carefully. You will have to answer questions to think of what is important! You can go back to listen if you need to!
Go ahead
Engagement grows when students feel inspired, encouraged, and capable of success. Motivation comes from building persistence, celebrating effort, and connecting learning to student interests.
Instructions
On the next page you will see your missions. Find the clues, codes, and artificats to complete you mission and END low engagement in the classroom! Remember to have fun and learn!
Don't forget!
Write down the numbers that accompany each letter in order to obtain your secret code.
Keep going
Use the link to figure out the word n the puzzle! That word will help to unlock the next clue. Click on the link to get to the puzzle
here
📙 Marzano’s Research (Classroom Instruction That Works, 2001; Updated 2012) Robert Marzano identified nine categories of high-yield instructional strategies, all grounded in meta-analysis. Several directly connect to engagement: Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback-Mirrors Hattie’s “Teacher Clarity.” Clear learning targets focus attention, and feedback sustains motivation. Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition-Explicitly teaching students that effort, not just ability, leads to achievement builds persistence and motivation. Recognition for progress fosters engagement and encourages sustained effort. Cooperative Learning Structured peer interaction supports both ownership (students take responsibility within groups) and motivation (belonging and accountability).
📘 Hattie’s Research (Visible Learning, 2009 & Updates) John Hattie synthesized over 1,500 meta-analyses (90,000+ studies, 300+ million students). His framework measures the effect size of strategies on student achievement. The “hinge point” = 0.40, or one year of expected growth in a year. - Teacher Clarity → Effect size = 0.75 When teachers clearly state learning intentions, success criteria, and directions, students focus better and remain more engaged. Clarity reduces confusion and increases task persistence. Self-Reported Grades / Student Expectations → Effect size = 1.44 One of the strongest influences. When students set goals and predict performance, they take ownership of learning. Builds motivation and effort because students see themselves as capable of success.
Escaping Low Engagement in the classroom
Alexis Barnes
Created on September 11, 2025
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Transcript
Escaping Low Engagement in the classroom
start.
Open the letter
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
map/missions
THIS IS YOUR STORY: Your classroom has been taken over by the dreaded villain Low Engagement. Students are distracted, participation is down, and learning is at risk! Your mission is to break out of Low Engagement’s trap before it’s too late.Work together with your team to solve clues, unlock strategies, and escape the trap. Every puzzle you solve will reveal a key insight to boost student engagement and bring learning back to life. If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! Good luck!
Mission 01
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission 05
Hattie's Visible Learning
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Before you can escape Low Engagement’s trap, you need to know which strategies actually move the needle on student learning. The world’s leading educational researcher, John Hattie, has studied millions of students and identified which teaching practices have the biggest impact. Your job is to decode his findings and uncover which strategies are most powerful.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Research
Next
Hattie's Visible Learning
Research
Cracking the Code Put the Strategies in the correct oder to crack your first code. This is one the levels you can use in your class to improve engagement!
Next
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission Complete!
Mission 05
Class Discussions
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Low Engagement has silenced student voices! To escape, you must bring back meaningful discussion and help students take charge of their learning. Around the room you will find qr codes where you can read and learn more about discussion strategies. Before getting started, watch this video on the importantance of discussions. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
INSTRUCTIONS:
Watch this!
Next
Form the code
I got it!
Drag the letters into this space and form the answer to the previous riddle.
Password?
Knock on the door, enter the code you found based on the letters, and you will get the first letter you need to open the briefcase.
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission 04
Mission Complete!
Mission 05
Claity, Ownership and Motivation
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Effective engagement happens when students know exactly what they’re learning (Clarity), take responsibility for their own progress (Ownership), and feel inspired to keep going (Motivation).
INSTRUCTIONS:
Read this!
Next
Drag each key word to the concept it belongs to
Goals
Choice
Innovation
Monitoring
Encouragement
Real World Connection
Criteria for Success
Rubrics
Reflection
Motivation
Ownership
Clarity
Next
Solution
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission Complete!
Mission 04
Mission 05
Feedback
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Feedback and engagement in the classroom are deeply connected because effective feedback drives motivation, relevance, and active learning. Your next mission is determine which type of feedback really helps to drive student learning. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
INSTRUCTIONS:
Next
It seems that one of the clues in this class, listen carefully to the conversations, they may be useful to you later...
Listen carefully
Continue
Pay attention to the conversation to get the answers to the questions in the next mission
How many times does the teacher give feedback?
First question
Read about the different types of feedback. The one that best helps support student learning will help you solve the puzzle
Second question
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Process Feedback
Task Feedback
Title
Praise
You share that the answer is right or wrong
You share an idea for how to improve
Write a brief description here
Feedback targeted more to feelings and emotions
Info
Next
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
Mission 01
THIS IS YOUR STORY:If you gather all the clues, you will obtain the combination that opens the briefcase. Crack the final code and unlock the "Engagement Toolbox" before time runs out! .Good luck!
Mission 02
Mission 03
Mission Complete!
Mission 04
Mission 05
Metacognition
INSTRUCTIONS:
THIS IS YOUR Mission: Metacognition means “thinking about your own thinking.” Research shows that when students monitor, reflect, and plan their learning, they stay more engaged and achieve more. Your next mission is to unlock the power of metacognition — the ability to think about your own thinking. Be sure to take notes of the strategies on your handout
Read about the Strategies
Drag the images to the corresponding strategy
Do you have it?
Peer Teaching
Think Aloud
Reflective Journal
SelfQuestioning
Next
Drag to find out the picture to the corresponding strategy you need.
"Without a password you cannot enter"
Enter the password
map/missions
ESCAPE ROOM Secret Agent
You are almost there, you are just touching your secret agent badge with your fingers...
Mission 01
Mission 02
Mission 01
Mission 03
Mission 02
Mission 04
Mission 03
Mission 04
Final Mission
Mission 05
Mission 05
Password?
What is the password?
Enter the correct numbers
Mission accomplished!
Date: 20XX
First Last Name
Secret Agent
S.P.Y
You have been promoted to escaped low engagement! Congratulations!
Are you giving up?You were very close to becoming a real secret agent
If you leave, you will have to start over again Are you sure you want to leave?
Continue
Exit
Here you can put a standout title
Need more reasons to create dynamic content? Well: 90% of the information we assimilate comes to us through sight, and we retain 42% more information when the content moves. What you read: interactivity and animation can make even the most boring content fun. At Genially, we use AI (Awesome Interactivity) in all our designs, so you can level up with interactivity and turn your content into something that adds value and engages.
This video discussions the importance of classroom discussons and its impact on teaching and learning!
Check in with the faciliator before moving on!!!
Students engage more deeply when they know exactly what they are learning, why it matters, and what success looks like.
Students are most engaged when they take responsibility for their learning — setting goals, monitoring progress, and reflecting on strategies. Ownership fosters independence and long-term success
Matching
Read the description and metacognitive strategies and then match the corresponding ones. Once you have the matches you will use it to try and match the picture to the corresponding picture.
Matching Game
Make sure you have listened carefully. You will have to answer questions to think of what is important! You can go back to listen if you need to!
Go ahead
Engagement grows when students feel inspired, encouraged, and capable of success. Motivation comes from building persistence, celebrating effort, and connecting learning to student interests.
Instructions
On the next page you will see your missions. Find the clues, codes, and artificats to complete you mission and END low engagement in the classroom! Remember to have fun and learn!
Don't forget!
Write down the numbers that accompany each letter in order to obtain your secret code.
Keep going
Use the link to figure out the word n the puzzle! That word will help to unlock the next clue. Click on the link to get to the puzzle
here
📙 Marzano’s Research (Classroom Instruction That Works, 2001; Updated 2012) Robert Marzano identified nine categories of high-yield instructional strategies, all grounded in meta-analysis. Several directly connect to engagement: Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback-Mirrors Hattie’s “Teacher Clarity.” Clear learning targets focus attention, and feedback sustains motivation. Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition-Explicitly teaching students that effort, not just ability, leads to achievement builds persistence and motivation. Recognition for progress fosters engagement and encourages sustained effort. Cooperative Learning Structured peer interaction supports both ownership (students take responsibility within groups) and motivation (belonging and accountability).
📘 Hattie’s Research (Visible Learning, 2009 & Updates) John Hattie synthesized over 1,500 meta-analyses (90,000+ studies, 300+ million students). His framework measures the effect size of strategies on student achievement. The “hinge point” = 0.40, or one year of expected growth in a year. - Teacher Clarity → Effect size = 0.75 When teachers clearly state learning intentions, success criteria, and directions, students focus better and remain more engaged. Clarity reduces confusion and increases task persistence. Self-Reported Grades / Student Expectations → Effect size = 1.44 One of the strongest influences. When students set goals and predict performance, they take ownership of learning. Builds motivation and effort because students see themselves as capable of success.