Educational Escape Room Research Articles

Relativity of Mindfulness: Team Collaboration in Digital and Physical Educational Escape Rooms

This study focuses on collaboration among team members in educational escape rooms in higher education. The objective of this study was to understand how collective mindfulness and less mindful behavior unfold in physical and digital game-based learning. The video data were collected from three different courses comprising 107 students on 28 teams, totaling more than 16 hours of material. The qualitative analysis revealed both collectively mindful and less mindful behaviors in team interactions. This paper contributes to collective mindfulness literature in understanding team collaboration by observing that mindfulness may be relative depending on the observation perspective. It also presents factors that affect member equality in both digital and physical escape rooms. Lastly, a nuanced description of how team collaboration occurred in a short-term problem-solving situation is developed.

The use of digital escape rooms in nursing education

Negative attitudes and prejudices towards people with a mental disorder are common across cultures and societies. The stigma associated with mental illness leads to a lower quality of life, given the discrimination and social exclusion suffered by people with this type of disorder. In the field of health, research has shown that doctors and nurses also manifest these types of stigmatizing behaviors and attitudes. The present study aims to create and apply an educational escape room for the purpose of training nursing students in mental health, promoting positive attitudes towards people who have a mental disorder. To do so, a pre-post study was conducted with an experimental group and a control group to determine whether the escape room was effective for the modification of stigmatizing behaviors compared to transmissive lecture class, and a third measurement was made at 6 months only to the experimental group to evaluate whether the changes produced by the escape room were maintained in the long term. The results indicate that the students participating in the study obtained better scores in sensitization and these remain better over time. It is concluded that the escape room used is suitable for the training and sensitization of future nursing professionals in the field of mental health, facilitating the learning of knowledge and positive attitudes towards severe mental disorder.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of educational escape rooms within health professions education: A systematic review protocol

Escape rooms are being increasingly employed as an educational approach within health professions education. Given the rapid increase in their application, investigators have adopted diverse evaluation methods, many of which utilise ad-hoc instruments. To inform future evaluation methods and the adoption of validated evaluation instruments, a systematic review is planned. This protocol outlines the steps of this review, which will collate and synthesise the evidence related to the evaluation and efficacy of educational escape rooms within health professions education. A search, applying terms for escape rooms, healthcare professionals and evaluation, will be conducted using multiple databases. Studies will be screened against eligibility criteria and all eligible studies will be quality assessed using a validated tool. Data will be narratively synthesised.

Gamification Tools in Higher Education: Creation and Implementation of an Escape Room Methodology in the Pharmacy Classroom

Educational escape rooms have emerged as an excellent active learning tool to improve student learning, motivation, and engagement. In this work, a methodology to design and develop escape rooms in the classroom has been established and implemented within the general pharmacology, biopharmacy and pharmacokinetics, and pharmaceutical technology disciplines for pharmacy students. Each escape room consisted of three sequential challenges that the students had to solve, and we divided the students into groups of 3–6 participants to complete a mission containing educational questions related to the curriculum of each module. The escape rooms were successfully implemented in all these disciplines, and the activity was positively evaluated by the students (>95% satisfaction). They allowed the students to apply the theoretical learning outcomes of each subject. Moreover, escape rooms promoted teamwork and improved the problem-solving skills of the students. For an escape room to be successful and meet the established learning outcomes, challenges must be adapted to the target students, the time should be precisely set, the tasks of the game master should be well-defined, and final feedback should be included in the session.

Escaping the Laboratory: An Escape Room to Reinforce Biomedical Engineering Skills

Commercial escape rooms have grown in popularity as an enjoyable experience that also doubles as an exercise in communication and collaboration. Educators can take advantage of these natural qualities to engage and support students in a low-stress learning environment. The primary goal of this study is to share the development and application of an educational escape room as a tool to provide biomedical engineering (BME) students with an immersive and practical experience. A BME laboratory course-specific escape room was developed and beta-tested on an initial group of BME students. The first set of feedback enabled improvements to the design and difficulty of the escape room, which was followed by the final release of the activity for the intended undergraduate BME course. Across an academic year, 74 participants agreed to provide survey feedback for this study. Despite a moderate escape rate (29%), students reported high satisfaction and enthusiasm for the activity. Student survey responses indicated that participants were engaged and empowered to successfully escape even without external motivators. Responses supported the effectiveness of the escape room as a BME learning environment, allowing students to practice and retain course-related knowledge in a challenging but low-risk activity. The foundational structure of escape rooms offers a beneficial environment for experiential knowledge application. We conclude that educational escape rooms show promise as a pedagogical tool in promoting enhanced knowledge retention through immersive, game-based learning.

Digital Educational Escape Room Analysis Using Learning Styles

Teachers often need to adapt their teaching methodologies in order to overcome possible limitations and ensure that education does not lose quality in the face of different scenarios that may arise in the educational environment, which are not always the most desirable. Techniques such as the Educational Escape Room (ERE) in higher education, are taking a great increase due to its popularity among young people as a leisure activity. This study shows an educational research based on the application of a Digital Educational Escape Room (DEER) to respond to the limitations of hybrid teaching with students divided between the classroom and their homes. Through the analysis of a control group, with a traditional lecture class, and an experimental group with the use of a pretest and a posttest, with the addition of studying the different learning styles of the students in each group, interesting results and conclusions have been obtained that offer a replicability of this technique for other fields and educational modalities.

Room2Educ8: A Framework for Creating Educational Escape Rooms Based on Design Thinking Principles

By immersing learners in a playful, interactive, and engaging experience, Educational Escape Rooms (EERs) have been found to enhance learners’ motivation, help them to develop 21st century skills, and improve knowledge acquisition. As research into EERs is still in a preliminary phase, no unified framework about how to design them has been established yet. Additionally, existing frameworks rarely validate the quality and efficacy of the frameworks themselves in terms of usability and usefulness. Therefore, the present paper proposes Room2Educ8, a learner-centred framework for EER design that follows Design Thinking principles. It provides detailed heuristics for empathising with learners, defining learning objectives and constraints, adding narrative, designing puzzles, briefing and debriefing participants, prototyping and playtesting, documenting the whole process, and evaluating the EER experience. A mixed-methods internal validation study based on Instructional Design model validation was conducted with 104 postgraduate students between 2018–2022 to assess the framework’s integrity and use. The study findings suggest that Room2Educ8 can be proposed as a valid tool for developing a wide range of EER types that cover a variety of topics. Its well-described and practical steps make it appropriate for educators regardless of a lack of prior experience in EER design.

The Impact of a Digital Escape Room Focused On HTML and Computer Networks on Vocational High School Students

Today, students live in a world surrounded by technology and traditional education methods are no longer very attractive to them. Applying the concept of a digital educational escape room to teaching can help increase students’ interest in the subject. In an escape room, the players search for clues, complete tasks, and solve polymorphic puzzles, working together to escape the room within a certain time limit. This article presents the use of a digital escape room on third-year students in the field of computer network mechanics at a secondary vocational school. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of implementing an escape room focused on HTML and computer networks on third-year computer network mechanics students and to assess the students’ levels of perception of the game. Although the experiment did not confirm an increase in students’ cognitive abilities, the quantitative analysis confirms a significant increase in the motivation, engagement, and satisfaction of students in secondary vocational schools focusing on technical vocational subjects. Qualitative analysis provides a better understanding of these results and supports the conclusion that using a digital educational escape room is enjoyable for students, and leads to problem-solving skills and teamwork.

Escape Individually or in Groups: Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Two Organizational Methods

During the COVID epidemic some teachers tried to use educational escape rooms to motivate their students to learn from home. In most cases they had to play alone, but the breakout games were originally played in groups. The aim of this research was to compare the learning effects of individually played educational escape rooms with those which played in groups. According to the literature there was some uncertainty of the efficiency of this type of game too. The results of this study have shown that escape rooms can be effective learning tools either played alone or in teams. The knowledge of the students was measured right before the escape room, immediately after the game and one month later. Both classes produced significantly better results immediately after both post-tests than on pre-test. This paper also compares the improvements of the two classes. It has been found that the team players’ performance has improved to a significantly greater extent than individual players’. Besides, the significant difference which was measured on the pre-test disappeared after the game in both post-tests. Keywords: Educational Escape Rooms, individually played, team play, feedback, learning effects DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-30-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2022

Co-designing an educational escape room: Integrating the knowledge and perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the design of an educational activity for healthcare students

Introduction: Healthcare students undertaking placements in the Northern Territory come from many different universities. Having previously and successfully used an educational escape room to teach students about interprofessional practice and teamwork, we aimed to co-design a new escape room activity with a scenario that would support students on their cultural learning journey. Methods: There were three stages involved in the development of the escape room session: 1) train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to facilitate a consultative workshop, 2) design and deliver a consultative workshop that enabled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants to contribute to, and decide on, the new escape room scenario and learning objectives and 3) develop the complete educational activity, including props, session plan and evaluation. Each stage was evaluated by both participants and researchers to ensure that it aligned with the core ethical values of spirit and integrity, cultural continuity, equity, reciprocity, respect and responsibility. The final education session was trialled and reviewed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants providing feedback and ensuring the integrity of the co-design. Outcomes and evaluation: Each of the project objectives were met, with the final educational escape room being offered to students undertaking a healthcare placement in Darwin. Conclusion: The co-design process took significant time and effort but meant responsible and responsive engagement, which strengthened relationships, provided opportunities for skill development and produced an educational session that will continue to improve healthcare students’ understanding of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Adaptability and Procedural Content Generation for Educational Escape Rooms

We present a literature review that aims to understand the role of the Educational Escape Room (EER) in improving the teaching, learning, and assessment processes through an EER design framework. The main subject is to identify the recent interventions in this field in the last five years. Our study focuses on understanding how it is possible to create an EER available to all students, namely visually challenged users. As a result of the implementation of new learning strategies that promote autonomous learning, a concern arose in adapting educational activities to each student’s individual needs. To study the adaptability of each EER, we found the EER design framework essential to increase the student experience by promoting the consolidation of knowledge through narrative and level design. The results of our study show evidence of progress in students’ performance while playing an EER, revealing that students' learning can be effective. Research on Procedural Content Generation (PCG) highlighted how important it is to implement adaptability in future studies of EERs. However, we found some limitations regarding the process of evaluating learning through the EERs, showing how important it is to study and implement learning analytics in future studies in this field.

Let's Jazz: a Case Study on Teaching Music with Educational Escape Rooms

Escape rooms have been proven to be a functional game-based approach to teach a variety of subjects. Teachers as well as students are eager to play escape rooms in the classroom; field studies have demonstrated how escape games are a memorable activity with a high retention rate, especially if followed by a proper debriefing session, in which learnings emerged and are made consistent. In recent years literature on educational escape rooms has grown, yet there is little body of research on educational escape rooms on music education. In this paper we present an educational escape room about Afro-American music at the beginning of the past century. The players are asked to solve a murder case happened in the backstage of a jazz club in New Orleans. Such scenario gives the players/students the opportunity to "experience", within the escape room context, cultural and historical details and characteristics related to this musical genre. The puzzles within the escape room are formally related to jazz and Afro-American music, giving players/students the possibility to learn and have a "first-hand" experience with concepts that would otherwise remain purely theoretical within a normal classroom environment. Learning has been measured by the means of a 3-step test design: the pre-test was administered before playing the escape room, the first post-test was administered right after playing the escape room and before the debriefing, while the second post-test was administered two weeks after the debriefing phase. From a qualitative point of view the teacher has noticed high motivation while playing the game, with respect to a normal classroom activity. The quantitative results of the second post-test have shown students have retained many of the concepts presented within the escape room and this highlights the importance of a debriefing phase to consolidate learning after playing an educational escape room.

Refurbishing the Educational Escape Room for Programming: Lowering the Threshold and Raising the Ceiling

Programming education at university level has often been identified as problematic learning. At the same time, prognosis for future labour market is increased need for professionals with programming and related skills. To meet demands of future society, K-12 schools around the world have integrated programming in the curriculum. However, research show challenges for integrating programming in K-12 education. Challenges include students’ and teachers’ struggle with learning and teaching programming, lack of time to properly incorporate programming in existing teaching and learning, and insufficient support for teachers. This study addresses these challenges by designing, developing, and evaluating an educational game on programming that combines the idea of game-based learning with digital escape rooms. In the game, the player develops knowledge about programming concepts to escape 10 rooms. The study’s main research question was: What are K-12 students’ perceptions of the game and what do they considered to be important design factors for a digital escape room game on computer programming? A design science approach was used for designing, developing, and evaluating a web-based escape room game on programming. This was conducted in a five-step process: 1) Explicating the problem, 2) Defining the requirements, 3) Designing and developing the artefact, 4) Demonstrating the artefact, and 5) Evaluating the artefact. The game was tested and evaluated by 32 K-12 students with a questionnaire during the autumn semester of 2021 and spring semester of 2022. Collected data were then analysed and grouped into categories to answer the study’s aim and research question. Findings of the study show several suggestions for further development and important design factors to consider when developing a digital escape room game. The next steps of research are to combine these findings with evaluations from teachers, and to incorporate this in an updated version of the game.

Learning to Escape or Escaping to Have Fun: Do Educational Escape Rooms Positively Impact Students’ Performance in Business Higher Education?

Interest in and the use of escape rooms (ERs) for educational purposes have increased recently (Taraldsen et al, 2020; Veldkamp et al, 2020). There are many benefits to using ERs in education, including improved engagement and motivation (Buchner et al, 2022; Taraldsen et al, 2020; Veldkamp et al, 2020). However, findings concerning the impact of the use of ERs on students' actual learning are mixed (Veldkamp et al, 2020). This study aims to investigate this impact by exploring a case in which a digital ER was implemented in a blended online course. This ER was designed to be used in a business course including more than 150 business undergraduate students distributed across 15 campuses. The specific learning objective of the escape room was to enhance students’ understanding of the most important concepts of the course in preparation for the midterm examination. The authors compare students’ performance across two different sections of the same course, i.e., a control section and another section in which the ER was implemented. In addition, the authors administered a survey to comprehend students’ ER perception. Results show that while students had a positive perception of the use of the digital educational ER, its usage did not affect their performance on the midterm examination.

Strategies Used to Teach Soft Skills in Undergraduate Nursing Education: A Scoping Review.

The world is entering an era that necessitates the deployment of new skills, specifically soft skills. Although teaching these skills is difficult because they involve fewer measurable elements, it is essential to rethink their integration into nursing education programs through innovative learning strategies. This scoping review aimed to map the soft skill learning strategies implemented by nursing schools to incorporate these skills into nursing programs. Studies from 2010 to 2020 were retrieved from four major scientific databases: PUBMED, SCOPUS, SCIENCDIRECT, and WEB OF SCIENCE. Relevant to the present review were twelve studies that met the established inclusion criteria. Simulation-based learning strategies (n=5), educational camp program on soft skills (n=1), emotional intelligence model (n=1), educational escape room learning strategy (n=1), blended learning pedagogical tool (n=1), debating as a learning strategy (n=1), action learning (n=1), and a course on grooming and etiquette (n=1) were identified. Through data charting, twenty soft skills were identified. Communication, teamwork, critical thinking, confidence, and situational awareness were the top five developed by the implemented strategies. Teaching soft skills through practice has been shown to be effective in nursing education. This review can serve as a guide for nurse educators to conduct targeted soft skills training. However, developing a specific, unified framework for effectively integrating soft skills is essential, with ongoing assessment to support their successful implementation.

Educational escape room as a gamification strategy for improving oral skills in the English language

Modern education tends to be more flexible and with a variety of strategies that permit learners to develop and propel their language skills. In this regard, the implementation of educational escape rooms are necessary to be accord with these days’ demands. The present study aims to identify the functionality and applicability of some games in schools and in different settings that support the improvement of the students’ communicative skills. In this way, a mixed-method with a control and experimental group that includes qualitative and quantitative data, observation and a survey permit to understand the students´ needs and their perceptions regarding the use of games to enhance their language skills. In addition, it shows the importance to relate and match accurately the language topics with specific games. The most important results show that students are eager to learn by playing and the significance of working in different environments that permit students to change their traditional learning. It is also essential to include that even though traditional games are appealing for young learners, the use of technology and internet connection turned into a powerful tool of motivation and engagement for students.
 As a conclusion, it was evidenced that modifying the teaching way produces high commitment among students and their curiosity influences to develop positive interaction and communicative skills.

Influence of the Algorithmization Process on the Mathematical Competence: A Case Study of Trainee Teachers Assessing ABN- and CBC-Instructed Schoolchildren by Gamification

In this manuscript, schoolchild mathematical competencies have been assessed by using educational gamification methodologies; specifically, Educational Escape Rooms (EER). To ease the interpretation of results, Spanish schoolchildren trained by using two different methodologies (ABN and CBC) were selected to participate in the experience. The gamified environment used as assessment tool was co-designed by trainee teachers, on-service teachers, and university researchers. The design was implemented in different educational centers and the results were transcribed to deliver a didactic analysis. Among the findings of this study, we uncovered: (i) the reduction of the math anxiety, (ii) the different performance of the schoolchild involved—ABN students show an additional and positive 10% development of certain mathematical competences—and (iii) a positive didactic-mathematic development of the participant trainee teachers.

Creating an escape room activity to enrich students’ undergraduate management education

Educational escape rooms are beneficial for student learning as it relates to critical thinking, decision making under time constraints and practical exploration of real-life work scenarios. This type of learning experience is beneficial across many disciplines with emphasis for healthcare management due to the dynamic nature and common pressures of professional healthcare. The following paper contributes to existing literature by presenting an educational escape room designed as a pedagogical innovation for teaching healthcare management. Future research and future assessment directives are discussed.

"The Da Vinci Code for IP Research": Case Study of a Course-Integrated Educational Escape Room for Entrepreneurship Education

Educational escape rooms can engage students in the development of information literacy skills while interacting with information formats and environments authentic to their disciplines. In business and entrepreneurship education, escape rooms offer the additional benefit of developing the characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset, such as adaptive thinking, problem solving, enthusiasm, and decisiveness. This case study explores game-based learning for library instruction in entrepreneurship education. Using Eukel and Morrell’s (2021) escape room design cycle as a framework, it analyzes the development, testing, implementation, and results of an original escape room, Exfiltration! A Competitive Intelligence Virtual Escape Room, implemented as a course-integrated information literacy learning activity in an upper-level undergraduate new venture creation course. Limitations of the escape room are identified, and opportunities for iterative improvement are described. Recent scholarship on the application of entrepreneurial mindset, business research competencies, gamification, escape room pedagogy, and escape rooms in library instruction is discussed. This case study responds to the call from Taraldsen et al. (2020) for more small-scale studies of educational escape rooms outside of the STEM and health science disciplines.

Escape room as a teaching method

Escape Room is a collaborative game designed to contain various clues, logical puzzles and tasks that a group of people need to complete in a limited period of time. The objective of the game is to escape from a physical room or find a hidden object. A game created for pedagogical purposes is usually called an educational escape room. It is based on Gamification and Game-based Learning. Its main advantage is the increase of students' engagement and motivation for mastering the curriculum. In addition, the development of soft skills also plays an extremely important role during the game.
 Teachers around the world are increasingly aware of the importance of soft skills that play a huge role in properly preparing students for the world of universities and the labor market . In contrast, traditional education does not always provide the right tools to improve student achievement in these areas .
 Thanks to the shift from traditional didactic models to the approach of active learning, escape rooms are increasingly used in academic life as a method of experiential, peer-to-peer, and game-based learning. Educational Escape rooms are emerging as a new type of learning activity, with the promise of enhancing student learning through interesting and engaging experiences.
 The present study aims to present the methodological possibilities of escape rooms for educational purposes, drawing on the existing literature. In addition, we will present a theoretical framework that is a guide to creators for creating escape room games for educational purposes. Our scientific goal is the development and measurement of the soft skills (collaboration and problem solving) of students.