Abstract:

Playful Learning won a prominent place in the different levels of education, and the Educational Escape Room (EER) is one of the many playful approaches to enhance student motivation. Furthermore, we argue that EERs activities facilitate learning strategies and improve teaching-learning and assessment processes.

In an Escape Room, players must solve puzzles and tasks in a limited amount of time to find the key to escape. Usually, team size is between 4 and 8 players, and most games have a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 12 players. Student groups solve contextualized problems, depending on the learning objectives and skills to improve, against the clock that usually lasts sixty minutes. According to some studies, students learn from their peers while solving challenges and viewing course materials differently. In addition, the EER rules are less competitive, and activities are more cooperative and playful. So, the challenges, the clues, and immediate feedback are characteristics that encourage students' participation, motivation, and understanding of learned concepts. The development of EER is complex and time-consuming, but once it is complete, it can be applied to other students in the following years. There are many experiences with EER reporting that teachers supervise students and are present throughout the activity, although some involve students alone in a locked room. In addition, video surveillance was used to monitor activity, and walkie-talkies could be used for communication between students. This article presents a literature review of the last five years about EERs activities, focusing on studies, references, and tools for creating EER, providing educators, researchers, and other stakeholders information to be able to include EER in teaching-learning and assessment processes.

Keywords:

Educational Escape Room, breakout, learning activity, Playful Learning.