Escape Room Design as a Game-Based Learning Process for STEAM Education

Zoi Karageorgiou, Irene Mavrommati, Panagiotis Fotaris

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBNConference contribution with ISSN or ISBNpeer-review

Abstract

By combining elements of entertainment with creative writing, theater and technology, the increasingly popular live-action games escape rooms have the potential to improve the learning experience when used in academic settings. However, since educational escape rooms are still an emerging field, there is limited literature available about their use in STEAM education. The present paper addresses this issue by describing the methods followed by 39, 16 to 18-year-old, students and 10 teachers at a Vocational School of Greece to implement a STEAM-focused escape room activity using the Experiential Pyramid Model. The escape room was themed after the Spanish heist television series “La Casa de Papel” and incorporated creative writing, theatrical elements, and technology, such as Robotics, QR codes and Virtual Reality (VR), to promote communication, teamwork and peer learning. To make the experience more immersive, two team members had the roles of non-player characters (NPCs), and interacted with the players throughout the game, with a small script written during the design and evaluation phase. This collaborative activity was assessed via evaluation questionnaires, direct/participatory observation and interviews. The first results indicated that students were highly engaged and motivated especially at the design phase. They valued this pedagogical approach positively, since it facilitated the integration of contents of various subjects and enabled them to collaborate with their peers from different cohorts, thus promoting peer learning. This study aims to provide educators with an example of how they might develop and support non-traditional approaches to learning by immersing their students as active participants in the learning environment and allowing them to develop and apply knowledge, so to create a gameplay.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 13th International Conference on Game Based Learning, ECGBL 2019
EditorsLars Elbaek, Gunver Majgaard, Andrea Valente, Saifuddin Khalid
Place of PublicationReading, UK
PublisherAcademic Conferences and Publishing International Limited
Pages378-385
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781912764389
ISBN (Print)9781912764372, 9781912764389
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2019
Event13th European Conference on Games Based Learning - Odense, Denmark
Duration: 3 Oct 20194 Oct 2019
https://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecgbl/

Publication series

NameProceedings of the European Conference on Games-based Learning
Volume2019-October
ISSN (Print)2049-0992

Conference

Conference13th European Conference on Games Based Learning
Abbreviated titleECGBL 2019
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityOdense
Period3/10/194/10/19
Internet address

Keywords

  • escape room
  • theatre
  • technology
  • creative writing
  • STEAM
  • education
  • Education
  • Technology
  • Theatre
  • Creative writing
  • Escape room

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