Exit for success. Gamifying science and technology for university students using escape-room. A preliminary approach

Jesús Sánchez-Martín; Mario Corrales-Serrano; Amalia Luque-Sendra; Francisco Zamora-Polo

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04340

Exit for success. Gamifying science and technology for university students using escape-room. A preliminary approach

Heliyon. 2020 Jul 7;6(7):e04340. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04340. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Jesús Sánchez-Martín¹, Mario Corrales-Serrano², Amalia Luque-Sendra³, Francisco Zamora-Polo^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y de las Matemáticas, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
² Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Sociales, Lengua y Literatura, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
³ Departamento de Ingeniería del Diseño, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Virgen de África, 7, 41011 Sevilla, Spain.
⁴ Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Energética y de los Materiales, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Universidad de Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.

Abstract

There is a growing tendency to incorporate gamification activities with the aim of improving student's motivation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses. One of the strategies to apply gamification in the classroom is the use of the escape room. In this work different experiences of escape room in the context of formal university education are analysed. The analysis of students' opinions shows that such activities are well received regardless of background (engineering or education) or gender. The emotions that arise from the experience are mostly positive and the students state that they have developed both specific and transversal competencies. Finally, practical considerations are proposed based on the lessons learned from the developed experiences.

Keywords: Academic motivation; Education; Engineering Education; Escape room; Gamification; Higher education; STEM Education; Science education.