that involve colors. Costumes and props, like vials of evidence with familiar odors, are all part of the game. The goal? To find the hidden key. Imagine a class whose goal is to solve a word problem in order to travel in time to save the world rather than a class which solely focuses on solving problems to get the needed score on the final exam. Players have noted higher levels of motivation in escape rooms that establish fictitious high stakes. Besides teamwork, what are skills/lessons learned in escape rooms? One participant reported having learned to reapply the “80/20 rule” which suggests a small amount of work we do is responsible for the majority of the outcome. Spending inordinate amounts of time on details while neglecting the more important core aspects can lead to failure in the escape room. Also, an overly confident attitude can lead to becoming so fixated on one solution that we overlook alternatives. And then of course there’s the element of staying cool and thinking rationally under the pressure of a ticking clock. These are lessons that can be applied in the classroom. I’m not suggesting we lock our students in a room to solve a mystery. It seems, though, that the elements involved in creating an escape room can be integrated into our teaching in small ways. Many of us are doing it already. Take for example, the Rube Goldberg projects in the STEM elective in which students design complicated inventions to perform a simple task. The video elective integrates story, props and costumes. The recent Advanced 2 panel on the podcast Serial, a murder mystery, required critical analysis of clues and possibilities. This edition of ESLevations features articles that will encourage us to think about the role of innovation in our classrooms. From using mobile apps to make technology more student-centered, to using authentic assessment or kinesthetic and visual revision of student work, you’ll learn interactive ways for motivating students. You will also read about the challenges of classifying languages based on prosody, which may inspire you to evaluate important core aspects of pronunciation and rethink how you teach it. Finally, you will meet Ruth Purkable, our original IEC “innovator” who recently turned 104. I hope you enjoy these investigations of innovation at the IEC. References Miller, Stuart (2015, April 19) The Art of the Escape Room. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/01/art-escape-room-323150.html
Sullentrop, Chris (2014, June 3) In Escape Rooms, Video Games Meet Real Life. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/arts/video-games/in-escape-rooms-video-gamesmeet-real-life.html?_r=0 2