Abstract:

The incorporation of active methodologies in Bachelor’s Degrees to boost students learning outcomes has gained popularity in the last years. In this sense, gamification techniques have demonstrated to improve several students’ skills such as creativity and visible thinking, as well as to increase the participation, motivation, dedication, and interest of undergraduates. Among them, escape rooms are an emerging learning activity that allow students to foster their teamwork, communication, and critical thinking abilities. In an escape room, a group of players must solve theme-based problems, puzzles and enigmas to achieve an objective within a defined time. The aim of this study was to design a pedagogical escape room activity to reinforce those required concepts for the optimal performance of experimental subjects for second-year undergraduate students of Chemistry Degree at the University of Valencia (Spain). In particular, this activity was developed for Organic and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory courses and, therefore, puzzles and enigmas were intended to revisit basic laboratory operations, techniques and calculations thought scientific enigmas that gave as a result a combination of numbers or codes to open mechanisms or unlock new challenges in the game until the achievement of the final objective. This highly engaging experience also serves students to self-evaluate their own progress. Once the escape room is completed, students assess the effectiveness of the game and how satisfied they are about the application of this activity in the laboratory session.

Keywords:

Educational innovation, escape room, motivation, student outcomes.