Solve and Learn! Using Escape Rooms to Motivate Learning

For anyone reading this blog, it’s highly likely they’ve tried to solve a word puzzle or Rubix cube in their day. And though it feels great to solve a puzzle, it doesn’t always result in knowledge gained. Teachers nowadays are constantly looking for ways to encourage learning and motivate students while captivating their frayed attention spans. Well, this motivation problem leads to a very interesting study between escape rooms and learning.

Since the start of escape rooms in Japan in the early 2000s, they have been used as a tool for fun and team building. However, a group of researchers wanted to know if Escape Rooms could do even more. What if they also motivate learning? Researchers in Barcelona (C. Borrego, C. Fernández, I. Blanes, S. Robles) recently completed a study using Escape Room Games to motivate student learning. In the study, engineering students participated in an escape room scenario. A typical scenario in which members are “locked” in a room and must solve puzzles and riddles to “escape” the room. In this game, all the riddles and puzzles were related to their engineering courses. The clues and riddles featured vital information which the students needed to know from the course. In addition to merely knowing the information, players needed to manage resources like time to problem solve quickly as a group to “escape” from the room.

The results of the study were all very positive. Students described the games as, “challenging, demanding, interesting and, above all, very amusing”. Motivation increased significantly for the students. They were more motivated and learned more with this learning than with a typical lecture style. The researchers are looking at testing this with other types of students to expand the breadth of the study.

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Solid. Liquid. Gas. Learning-Based Escape Room

Learning-Based Escape Rooms bring together information, puzzle-solving, team-work, and time limits to create an excellent motivational playground. Aviki Games also believes that the wonder of escape rooms is an exciting tool for learners young and old. Here at Aviki Games, our puzzles are more smart than scary, which makes our games more interesting and fun for all participants!

Psst….Aviki Games has recently launched it’s first Learning-Based Escape Room game. Contact us to learn more!