A mathematical 'escape room' for 4th graders

escape room

Teachers and students from the Rey Juan Carlos University organize this educational activity in a public school in the Community of Madrid. During the development of the test, the participants will work on logical and abstract thinking through mathematics and will put into practice the knowledge acquired in class and teamwork.

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Next Monday, May 27, several professors from the Rey Juan Carlos University and five students from the double degree, a pioneer in Spain, in Primary Education and Mathematics will organize an 'escape room' at the CEIP Escuelas Aguirre in Madrid. The activity aims to promote and spread mathematics at an early age through the gamification of learning.

The activity will be carried out with 4th grade students and under the dynamic format of a game. Students will work on logical and abstract thinking. To develop the "skape room" two classrooms of the center will be used and the students will be divided into four groups. Each group will face a series of challenges and mathematical puzzles. When they pass them all, they will participate in a final test where collaboration is essential to solve it. The initiative has two clear objectives: on the one hand, it seeks to encourage children to see mathematics as something fun and to eliminate a certain stigma that many have with this subject. And, secondly, to show the students of the degree what teaching is like first-hand.

This mathematical 'escape room' has been launched thanks to the involvement of the coordinator of the URJC Mathematics degree, Clara Simón; the professor of Applied Mathematics, Adrián Bacelo; the academic director of the Center for Innovation in Digital Education, César Cáceres and Adriana Trinidad, Vanessa García, Eva de Frutos, Amara de Lucas and Raquel Vázquez González, students of the 4th year of the double degree in Primary Education and Mathematics. In addition, it should be noted that the collaboration of the management of the center in which the activity will take place and its teachers has been total.

It is the first time that this activity has been proposed and the students who participate in it say they are “very excited” and believe that it is a “very good opportunity to learn first-hand what it is like to work with children and apply different and creative methodologies to teach” . For her part, the director of the activity, Clara Simón, considers that "it is very important to bring the students of the degree closer to what their professional future may be" and that "it is necessary to encourage mathematics in the little ones through these more creative methods.