It's hard to believe that it's been four years since Darren Hudgins and I published our (second!) book Developing Digital Detectives. In many ways, this book was our attempt to turn the theory from our first book (Fact VS Fiction) into actionable strategies that educators could implement right away. After spending years researching how modern information technologies, particularly social media platforms, are designed to exploit human emotions in order to maximize profits, we were driven to support teachers and librarians in the work of crafting practices that:
are designed for the ways our kids actually access information
focus on the ways emotion drives our behavior both on and offline
address the complexities of our, often unhealthy, relationships with these tools
help learners (of all ages) understand that engagement is a choice that has varied and complex consequences
Put another way: the tools we use to access and create information have changed; the tools we use to evaluate information largely haven't. This is a problem. Darren and I wanted to create resources to help teachers fix that problem and prepare young people for the world they actually live in.
With that in mind, the last third of Developing Digital Detectives is comprised of unit plans that we call "cases." While the rest of the book contains mini-lessons to help educators reinforce specific skills and/or develop necessary habits, the cases at the end of the book are, at their heart, summative assessments through which kids demonstrate their understanding of important ideas.
We also really, really wanted the cases to be fun.
In that spirit, we organized the cases so that they could easily be transformed into Breakout EDU lessons. After all, Breakouts are fun, require kids to work together, promote critical thinking and are, in their own way, mysteries to be solved. The combination of our lessons and the Breakout strategy felt like a natural match. And to our delight, Breakout EDU agreed. They even made a digital game to go along with one of our cases for Elementary aged learners called, "The Case of the 450lb Dog!" (If you have the book, check it out... it's a hoot!)
Enter Bethel School District
Last year, I had the opportunity to share Developing Digital Detectives (DDD) with the Teacher Librarians and Tech TOSAs in Bethel School District. This year, they asked me to come back, with two goals for our time together:
Help educators btter understand how to transform lessons from DDD into Breakout EDU activities
Help educators consider how they might use picture books (with learners of all ages) to develop the habits of Information Mindfulness
Needless to say, I was excited. It took me several weeks to put together an all day workshop that would address both of these hefty goals. And while not everything went the way I planned (ahem, we needed a bolt cutter), I left feeling both inspired by the learning that took place and with lots to reflect on. The rest of this post is my attempt to do just that while also sharing some of the resources we used along the way. That said, this is going to be a long post, but I hope you find these ideas and tools useful!
🎵 Say What You Want To Say... Now Breakout!
I began our workshop by asking participants the following questions:
Although I had some guesses related to what the final word clouds would look like, I was also curious about the differences between how students and adult view BreakoutEDU activities. More importantly, though, I wanted us to chat about some of the obstacles that teachers perceive when it comes to using Breakouts with the kids they serve. (As an aside: in the time between the workshop and this post, I've received multiple messages from participants who said they felt much less anxious about trying a Breakout with their students as a result of our work together. WIN!)
This conversation also gave me the opportunity to share my process. Although the Breakout I prepared for these adult learners was, in some ways, very different from one I might create for kids (more on that below), the creation/testing process was the same.
Step 1: Objectives & Content
Because I was tasked with helping these educators create games from the lessons in Developing Digital Detectives, in some ways, the decision about the content had been made for me. I did have to choose which lesson from DDD to focus on, however. In the end, I decided to craft a Breakout activity from a middle school lesson called: "The 911 Toilet Paper Emergency." I chose this for several reasons:
Even though Darren and I targeted middle school learners with this lesson, I've seen it used with both elementary and high school learners, too. I hoped this would make it meaningful and accessible for all of the educators in my workshop
I've shared this case hundreds of times, at conferences and in other types of workshops before, so I felt very confident sharing it again
There's a fun backstory around how Darren and I were both duped by this story. I love to confess our own missteps at the end to showcase how even, so called, "experts" in this stuff can be fooled when the right emotions are triggered
It's just a funny story. I mean, who doesn't love to read about adults hoarding toilet paper?
In that spirit, here are the learning objectives I created to guide our work: I hoped that through this activities learners would:
think deeply about how emotion influences our decisions on/off line (content related objective)
think deeply about engagement as an emotional, economic and political choice (content related objective)
discover new ways of using BreakoutEDU with learners (pedagogy related objective)
consider ways of reframing the way we approach media literacy lessons (pedagogy related objective)
Work together (learner behavior related objective)
Have fun! (learner behavior related objective)
Because I wanted to emphasize the importance of these learning objectives, I also created this genial.ly game for participants to play prior to obtaining their Breakout materials. The game, which they completed together, reinforced our objectives while also reminding them of important strategies for success. Plus, it's just super cute. I love how it turned out.
Step 2: Theme + Map
Over the years, I've found that the BreakoutEDU experience is often more meaningful for
learners if I give them a map, to guide them through the clues together. Rather than just tossing a bunch of tools and resources at them and saying, "figure it out!", I begin by identifying a picture book that relates, thematically, to the content. I then strategically place all of the clues in that book. As we begin the game, learners are instructed to read the picture book together, pausing to explore clues, solve puzzles and break locks as they come to them.
For this activity, I chose The Breaking News by Sarah Lynne Reul. I love this book. Plus, it's the perfect example of a family whose behavior is hijacked by BIG feelings in the wake of some breaking news. (As an aside, I often joke that I am the reason this little book is still in print, as I recommend it everywhere I go!)
Once I decided on the clues (see below) I placed them in tiny envelopes, (marked as "top secret" or "confidential"), and then tucked them strategically throughout the book. The final clue appeared on the last page of the book, so that participants had to finish the story in order to locate all the clues.
Now... I know what you are thinking: "what's to stop them from just flipping through the pages, going straight to the clues, without reading the book???"
Answer: Nothing!
However, their culminating activity involved questions related to The Breaking News, so... if they skipped reading it during the Breakout itself, they had to go back and read it in order to complete the final activity. <insert evil laugh here>
Step 3: Clues + Locks
Next comes the fun part!
Only after I've identified the goals for the activity and settled on a theme, do I turn my attention to the locks and their clues. Speaking only for myself, I can find this step in the process overwhelming if I haven't done that pre-work. Having goals and a theme to refer back to helps me stay focused.
As I mentioned above, one way that this Breakout was very different from those I might create for kids has to do with the sheer number of locks participants were challenged to break. In order to give participants a variety of lock/clue options, I created 9 different clues and locks for them to solve together. I addressed this choice early on in the workshop, challenging participants to think of the activity as a learning buffet.
That said, I've added a student-ready version of this BreakoutEDU activity to The Evidence Locker - which is the companion website/resource repository that goes along with Developing Digital Detectives.
To access this activity, with an answer key and directions for building the Breakout, just head to The Evidence Locker >>> Chapter 9 >>> The Case of the 911 TP Emergency >>> Breakout EDU Bonus!
Step 4: Reflection Activities
For this Breakout. I chose a "Finish The Comic" activity that Jarrett Lerner created for Developing Digital Detectives. If you've read the book and explored The Evidence Locker, you know that Jarrett made several of these for us and they are all AMAZING! The one I chose for this Breakout features a young person coming across a news story that they are uncertain about, with several empty frames left for kids to decide what happens next. For this activity, I created a prompt that challenges students to imagine that the person in the comic has come across the 911 TP story. Then they are asked to complete the comic in a way that illustrates whether or not they think that person should engage with the story. Again, all of these resources can be found in The Evidence Locker
Step 5: Test & Adjust
Finally, whenever I'm building a BreakoutEDU activity, I put together one box, test it myself and make adjustments. Then, if possible, I ask a friend, colleague or (often!) my husband to test it out. Having fresh eyes, who do not know what the answers are supposed to be, test out your work is always good advice. With their feedback, I tweak the locks, clues, etc., before putting together however many boxes will be needed for the activity.
A Note on Materials and Mistakes
Several years ago, I made the decision to invest in 6 official BreakoutEDU boxes and the materials that come with them. I admit, I could have created dupe boxes for less money. However, I decided that if I believed in BreakoutEDU enough to share it with other educators, then I owed its creators my support. Over time, I've supplemented the materials that came with the original boxes with some additional goodies. For example. I've added some bright orange real estate style lock boxes to my Breakout supplies as well as some Elton John style red-lens glasses that I absolutely love. But I've also got my eye on some of these cool cypher sets, from BreakoutEDU that weren't available when I bought my boxes. I'm excited to add these to my closet full of breakout materials! In the end, we all have to be good stewards of the limited funds we have. For me, supporting a company I believe in, and whose values align with my own, just feels like the right thing to do.
All of that said, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that even when you over prepare (like I do!) things are bound to go wrong. The more moving parts and the more freedom learners are given, the more likely it is that things will happen that you didn't anticipate. This time
around, despite the fact that I packed up my car the night before, made a list (and checked it 10 times) I still managed to forget a zip lock bag containing the keys to one of the locks on our boxes! Without these keys, participants wouldn't be able to remove the hasp, bringing our game to a dead stop. However, after a few seconds of internal panic, I asked
one of the Tech TOSAs to see if a school custodian had a bolt cutter, which of course they did! So... instead of using the key to remove that lock, when participants discovered the clue, we came over with the giant bolt cutter to remove it in a far more memorable manner. Was this part of the plan? Heck no! Will I have to buy new keyed clocks? Yes! But not only did it all work out, but now we also have a memory that we wouldn't have had before. As I told my Bethel School District friends on that day: I've designed and facilitated thousands of workshops over the years... this is the first one that required a bolt cutter! To be clear, chances are I'll never EVER forget those keys again. However, the bigger lesson here is that even when things go wrong, there's still a lot of potential for them to go right. Plus, one unexpected consequence wound up being that participants reached out to share that seeing me handle a big snafu helped them feel less anxious about the potential goofs they might encounter.
Information Mindfulness + Picture Books
Switching gears...
People of a certain age may remember when video games made the transition from single/flip-screen games, like Pac Man or Donkey Kong, to the revolutionary side scroll design; the most famous example, perhaps, being Mario Brothers. This innovation in game design represents a major disruption in game mechanics, because it changed the way people played. In addition to allowing for longer, more complex game play, side scroll games also afforded players the opportunity to connect with video game characters. The ability to choose a player and then guide them through a sprawling, scrolling game world created a feeling of connection between the player and the game. This feeling of connection inspired fandoms which still exist to this day. Put another way, the relationship between the gamer and the game changed. And neither have ever been the same.
In a similar way, the shift social media platforms have made away from static images and text based feeds, to never ending streams of short, video based content, where posts from journalists, influencers and your best friends from high school are nearly indistinguishable, has had a seismic effect on our relationships to these tools and to one another. Just as side-scrolling video games (and later first person RPGs) created a perceived relationship between gamers and their digital counterparts, our endless social media feeds have been designed to capitalize on our emotions and keep us scrolling. And scroll we do! The varied consequences for that change can be seen everywhere. What's more, we're only beginning to understand the complex price we've paid for allowing this relationship, and our attention, to be monetized.
With that in mind, over the last several years, I've been shifting my own language away from the term "information literacy" and toward "information mindfulness" instead. More and more, I've come to believe that our current approaches to information evaluation fall short, in part because they skip the important steps of helping learners:
recognize when information triggers an emotional response, and...
identify strategies for navigating those emotions, before...
considering who benefits if we allow those emotions to drive our behavior, so that we can ultimately...
make the healthiest choice possible.
All of that said, while I'm not ready to share the scope of this work publicly, yet... I can say that I've been quietly developing resources and practices that focus on picture books as being the right tool for this job.
Consequently, the second half of my day with Bethel SD focused on this idea. To do this, I brought a stack of 50ish picture books which I hand selected for this purpose. Participants dove in - identifying specific spreads and language that lend themselves to particular strategies. As a thank you for their feedback on my ideas, participants got to take home all the picture books (along with several crates of MG and YA titles, too!) I'm so grateful for the opportunity to observe this work in action. I'm more convinced than ever that I'm on the right track. More soon!
Where Are Your Slides, Jennifer?
Long time readers of this space know that I nearly always share my slides (and other goodies) when a workshop is complete. But not this time. Since I'm still developing many of these ideas and resources, I've decided not to share my slides, etc., (yet). However, if you've read this post to the very end, I would like to invite you to be a part of this on going work. I hope you'll consider joining me in conversation for this week's #TLSkyChat where I'll be sharing more about these shifts in a Taylor Swift inspired conversation. It's gonna be fun, y'all! I hope to see you there!
When: Wednesday, 2/26/2025 starting at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET
Where: Bluesky!
What: An educational chat for librarians and their supporters! Learn more here! (Note questions are posted in advance!)
Who: YOU!
