Save Odysseus: An Escape Room as a Content Gamification Activity for Enhancing Collaboration and Resilience in the School Context
Abstract
This paper describes the design and the implementation of an educational escape room with an Odyssey theme, in accordance with the content gamification model. Escape rooms are part of the gamification strategies adopted in education, so that students get actively engaged and at the same time achieve cognitive or pedagogical goals effortlessly. The specific escape room was developed as a playful alternative to the standard revision stage of the Odyssey, but also included interdisciplinary elements (Geography and Mathematics). The research methodology was exploratory, as a minimum foundation for further research, and quantitative. Escape room's main goal was to fight students' boredom and engage them in an entertaining learning process. The main research question was: do the vulnerable students (with low school performance) profit from this procedure and cultivate a positive attitude towards learning?
According to the results, the escape room enhanced engagement, collaboration, communication, and creativity, and mitigated stress through collaboration, which subsequently fosters resilience in the school context. It was also welcomed as beneficial pedagogical activity and caused, to an overwhelming extent, the enthusiasm of the participants. The (male) gender and the earlier experience of an escape room contributed to the more positive reception of the activity. Low-performance students expressed their satisfaction and fervent approval of the experience and outscored those of high performance in almost all variables measured, proving the pedagogical value of the escape room's use.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijhss.12.2.1
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (78)4.
Anderson, R. (2008). Implications of the information and knowledge society for education. In J. Voogt, & G. Knezek, (Eds.). International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education (pp. 5-22). New York: Springer.
Arnab, S., & Clarke, S. (2017). Towards a transdisciplinary methodology for a game-based intervention development process. British journal of educational technology, 48(2), 279-312.
Baker, A., Navarro, E. O., & Van Der Hoek, A. (2005). An experimental card game for teaching software engineering processes," J. Syst. Software, 75(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2004.02.033
Becker K., & Nicholson S. (2016). Gamification in the Classroom: Old Wine in New Badges. In K. Schrier (Eds.) Learning Education and Games. Volume Two: Bringing Games into Educational Contexts (pp. 61-86). ETC Press.
Bernard, Î’. (1991). Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, school, and Community. San Francisco, CA: WestEd Regional Educational Laboratory.
Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining Twenty-First Century Skills. In Griffin, P., McGaw, B. & Care, E. (Eds.). The Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. Dordrecht: Springer.
Bogost, I. (2011). Gamification is Bullshit. Retrieved from http://bogost.com/blog/gamification_is_bullshit/
Borrego, C., Fernández, C., Blanes, I., & Robles, S. (2017). Room escape at class: Escape games activities to facilitate the motivation and learning in computer science. J. Technol. Sci. Educ., 7(2), 162-171.
Boysen, M., Osborn, S., Paradise, & Suchard, J. (2018). The toxiscape hunt: An escape room-scavenger hunt for toxicology education. J. Educ. Teach. Emerg. Med., 3(1), 9-19.
Bruckman, A. (1999). Can educational be fun? Paper presented at the Game Developers Conference '99, San Jose, CA.
Cain, J. (2019). Exploratory implementation of a blended format escape room in a large enrollment pharmacy management class, Currents PharmacyTeach. Learn., Jan., 11(1), 44-50.
Caldwell, B., & Longmuir, F. (2010). Curriculum and Pedagogy for the 21st Century Challenges for School Leaders. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) on the theme of Shared Vision: An Australian Curriculum P-12, 29 April 2010, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Clare, A. (2015). Flow. In Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzle and Escape Rooms. (1st ed). Toronto: Wero Creative.
Cohen T. N., Griggs A. C., Keebler J. R., Lazzara E. H., Doherty S. M., Kanji A. F., Gewertz B. L., (2020). Using Escape Rooms for Conducting Team Research: Understanding Development, Considerations, and Challenges, Simulation & Gaming.
Cotner, S. K., Smith, M., Simpson, L., Burgess, D. S., & Cain J. (2018). Incorporating an "escape room" game design in infectious diseases instruction. Open Forum Infect. Dis., 5.
CsÃkszentmihályi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harpeerennial.
Dempsey, J., Haynes, L., Lucassen, B., & Casey, M. (2002). Forty simple computer games and what they could mean to educators. Simulation & Gaming, 33(2), 157-168.
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: defining “gamificationâ€. In A. Lugmayr (Ed.) Proceedings of the 15th International Academic Mindtrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments (pp. 9–15). New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040.
Dietrich N. (2018). Escape classroom: The leblanc process. An educational `Escape Game'. J. Chem. Educ, 95(6), 996-999.
Dillenbourg, P., Baker, M. J., Blaye, A., & O’Malley, C. (1995). The evolution of research on collaborative learning. In E. Spada & P. Reiman (Eds.), Learning in humans and machine: Towards an interdisciplinary learning science (pp. 189-211). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Eukel H. N., Frenzel J. E., & Cernusca, D. (2017). Educational gaming for pharmacy students. Design and evaluation of a diabetes-themed escape room. Amer. J. Pharmaceutical Educ., Sep., 81(7), 6265.
Fadel, C., & Trilling, B. (2012). Twenty-first century skills and competencies. In N. M. Seel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning (pp. 3353- 3356). New York: Springer.
French, S., & Shaw, J. M. (2015). The unbelievably lucrative business of escape rooms. Retrieved https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-weird-new-world-of-escape-room-businesses-2015-07-20.
Hermanns, M. B., Deal, S., Hillhouse, J. B., Opella, C., Faigle, I. V., Campbell, & Robert, H. 2018. Using an `Escape Room' toolbox approach to enhance pharmacology education. J. Nurs. Educ. Pract., 8(4), 89-95.
Higgins, G. O. (1994). Resilient adults: Overcoming a cruel past. Jossey-Bass.
Ho, A. M. (2018). Unlocking ideas: Using escape room puzzles in a cryptography classroom.' PRIMUS, 28(9), 835-847.
Glavas, A., & Stascik, A. (2017). Enhancing positive attitude towards mathematics through introducing Escape Room games. Mathematics education as a science and a profession, 281-293.
Huizinga, J. (1944). Homo Ludens; A Study Of The Play-Element In Culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., & Robison, A. J. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Mit Press. Retrieved from https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Klabbers, J. H. (2018). On the architecture of game science. Simulation & Gaming, 49(3), 207-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878118762534.
Kuhn, D. (2015). Thinking together and alone. Educational Researcher, 44, 46-53.
Landers, R. N., Auer, E. M., Collmus, A. B., & Armstrong, M. B. (2018). Gamification science, its history and future: definitions and a research agenda. Simulation & Gaming, 49(3), 315–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878118774385.Return
Lerner, R. M., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., & Lerner, J. V. (2005). Positive youth development: A view of the issues. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 10– 16.
McClarty, K. L., Orr, A., Frey, P. M., Dolan, R. P., Vassileva, V., & McVay, A. (2012). A literature review of gaming in education. Gaming in education, 1-35. Mitchell, A. & Saville-Smith, C. (2004). The use of computer and video games for learning. A review of the literature. London: The Learning and Skills Development Agency.
Monaghan S. R., & S. Nicholson. (2017). Bringing escape room concepts to pathophysiology case studies. HAPS Educ., Jul. 21 (2), 49-65.
Moula, E. (2012). Is edutainment just a chocolate-coated broccoli? Computer games and history: intersections, interactions, learning advantages and strategies. In Proceedings of International Scientific Conference, er-A 8, Technological Education Institute of Piraeus. Ανακτήθηκε 01-04-20 Retrieved from http://www.pee.gr/wp-content/uploads/eRA8_1-481.pdf
Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities. Retrieved from http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf
Nicotera, N., & Laser-Maira, J. A. (2016). Innovative Skills to Support Well-being and Resiliency in Youth. Oxford University Press.
Novak, J., Lozos, J. C., & Spear, S. E. (2019). Development of an interactive escape room intervention to educate college students about earthquake preparedness. Natural Hazards Review, 20(1).
Papadakis, S., & Kalogiannakis, M. (2019). Evaluating the effectiveness of a game-based learning approach in modifying students' behavioural outcomes and competence, in an introductory programming course. A case study in Greece. International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 10(3), 235-250.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. MCB University Press, 9(5).
Sailer, M., Hense, J. U., Mayr, S. K., & Mandl, H. (2017). How gamification motivates: an experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 371–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.033.
Sangkyun, K., Kibong, S., Lockee, B. & Burton, J. (2018). Gamification in Learning and education. Enjoy Learning Like Gaming. Springer.
Squire K. D. (2006). From Content to Context: Videogames as designed experience. Educational Researcher, 35(8), 19-29.
Squire, K., & Jenkins, H. (2004). Harnessing the power of games in education’. Insight (3)1, 5-33.
Steinkuhler, C., Squire, S. & Barab, S. (2012) (Εds) Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Meaning in the Digital Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Strickland, H. P., & Kaylor, S. K. (2016). Bringing your a-game: Educational gaming for student success. Nurse Education Today, 40, 101-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/jnedt.2016.02.014
Tang, S., & Hanneghan, M. (2011). State-of-the-art model driven game development: A survey of technological solutions for game-based learning. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 22(4), 551-605.
Villar A. (2018). Ocio y turismo millennial: El fenómeno de las salas de escape. Cuadernos Turismo, 41, 615-636.
Voogt, J., Roblin, P. N. (2010). 21st Century Skills. Discussion paper. Retrieved from http://archief.kennisnet.nl/fileadmin/contentelementen/kennisnet/Bestanden_Feddo/21st-Century-Skills.pdf
Wagner, T. (2010). The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don’t teach the new survival skills our children need—and what we can do about it. New York: Basic Books.
Walsh, B., & Spence, M.(2018). Leveraging escape room popularity to provide 1rst-year students with an introduction to engineering information. Ιn Proc. Can. Eng. Educ. Assoc. (CEEA) Conf., Dec. 2018, 1-9.
Williams P. (2018). Using escape room-like puzzles to teach undergraduate students effective and efficient group process skills, Ιn Proc. IEEE Integr. STEM Educ. Conf., Mar. 2018, 254-57
Wise H., Lowe J., Hill, A., Barnett, L., & Barton, C. (2018). Escape the welcome cliché: Designing educational escape rooms to enhance students' learning experience J. Inf. Literacy, 12(1), 86-96.
Zhang, X. C., Lee, H., Rodriguez, C., Rudner, J., Chan, T. M., & Papanagnou, D. (2018). Trapped as a group, escape as a team: applying gamification to incorporate team-building skills through an ‘escape room’ experience. Cureus, 10(3).
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Print version: 1694-2620
Online version: 1694-2639