ESCAPE ROOMS IN SCHOOLS: PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR LEARNING
Article Sidebar
Published
Oct 22, 2018
Main Article Content
Abstract
Escape rooms are group games where players are required to search for clues, solve puzzles and complete tasks in one or more rooms in order to achieve a pre-defined objective. Most often, the aim is to find a way of escaping from the room itself within a certain time limit. In recent years, escape rooms have grown in popularity and have started to be adopted for educational purposes. This contribution summarises the main features of this kind of game and the elements that make it engaging. It then goes on to analyse the educational potential of escape rooms both in subject areas and for developing 21st century skills. Finally, the paper examines in depth how cutting edge immersive technologies support the implementation of virtual or mixed reality escape rooms, thereby making the game more adaptable and sustainable in formal educational contexts.
Article Details
Section
Column "Platforms/tools"
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)
References
Azuma, R. T. (1997). A survey of augmented reality. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 6(4), 355-385.
Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining twenty-first century skills. In Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 17-66). Dordrecht, NL: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2324-5_2
Clarke, S., Peel, D. J., Arnab, S., Morini, L., Keegan, H., & Wood, O. (2017). EscapED: A framework for creating educational escape rooms and interactive games for higher/further education. International Journal of Serious Games, 4(3), 73-86.
Coller, B. D., & Shernoff, D. J. (2009). Video game-based education in mechanical engineering: A look at student engagement. International Journal of Engineering Education, 25(2), 308-317.
Corkill, E. (2009). Real escape game brings its creator’s wonderment to life. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2009/12/20/general/real-escape-game-brings-its-creators-wonderment-to-life/#.WrYxEdPwYWo
Din, F. S., & Calao, J. (2001). The effects of playing educational video games on kindergarten achievement. Child Study Journal, 31, 95-102.
Garris, R., Ahlers, R., & Driskell, J. E. (2002). Games, motivation, and learning: A research and practice model. Simulation & gaming, 33(4), 441-467. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878102238607
Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY, USA: Palgrave MacMillan.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534-537. doi: 10.1038/nature01647
Griffin, P., McGaw, B., & Care, E. (2012). Assessment & teaching of 21st century skills. Dordrecht, NL: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-9395-7
Henderson, L., Klemes, J., & Eshet, Y. (2000). Just playing a game? Educational simulation software and cognitive outcomes. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 22(1), 105-129. doi: 10.2190/epjt-ahyq-1laj-u8wk
Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, 77(12), 1321-1329.
Murray, J. H. (1997). Hamlet on the holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities. Retrieved from http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf
Nicholson, S. (2016). The State of Escape: Escape Room Design and Facilities. Paper presented at Meaningful Play 2016. Lansing, MI, USA. Retrieved from http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/stateofescape.pdf
Nicholson, S. (2018). Creating Engaging Escape Rooms for the Classroom. Childhood Education, 94(1), 44-49. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2018.1420363
Pan, R., Lo, H., & Neustaedter, C. (2017). Collaboration, awareness, and communication in real-life escape rooms. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (pp. 1353-1364). ACM. doi: 10.1145/3064663.3064767
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Qian, M., & Clark, K. R. (2016). Game-based Learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 50-58.
Rosser, J. C., Lynch, P. J., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D. A., Klonsky, J., & Merrell, R. (2007). The impact of video games on training surgeons in the 21st century. Archives of surgery, 142(2), 181-186. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.142.2.181
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, USA: MIT Press.
Salisbury, F., & Ung, E. (2016). Can you escape the library escape room?. Incite, 37(5/6), 24.
Sung, Y. T., Chang, K. E., & Lee, M. D. (2008). Designing multimedia games for young children’s taxonomic concept development. Computers & Education, 50(3), 1037-1051. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2006.07.011
Warmelink, H., Mayer, I., Weber, J., Heijligers, B., Haggis, M., Peters, E., & Louwerse, M. (2017). AMELIO: Evaluating the team-building potential of a mixed reality escape room game. In Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 111-123). ACM. doi: 10.1145/3130859.3131436
Wiemker, M., Elumir, E., & Clare, A. (2015). Escape room games: Can you transform an unpleasant situation into a pleasant one?. Game Based Learning, 55. Retrieved from https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/digitale-spielewelten.de/blog/media/00511Wiemker%20et%20al%20-%20Paper%20-%20Escape%20Room%20Games.pdf
Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining twenty-first century skills. In Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 17-66). Dordrecht, NL: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2324-5_2
Clarke, S., Peel, D. J., Arnab, S., Morini, L., Keegan, H., & Wood, O. (2017). EscapED: A framework for creating educational escape rooms and interactive games for higher/further education. International Journal of Serious Games, 4(3), 73-86.
Coller, B. D., & Shernoff, D. J. (2009). Video game-based education in mechanical engineering: A look at student engagement. International Journal of Engineering Education, 25(2), 308-317.
Corkill, E. (2009). Real escape game brings its creator’s wonderment to life. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2009/12/20/general/real-escape-game-brings-its-creators-wonderment-to-life/#.WrYxEdPwYWo
Din, F. S., & Calao, J. (2001). The effects of playing educational video games on kindergarten achievement. Child Study Journal, 31, 95-102.
Garris, R., Ahlers, R., & Driskell, J. E. (2002). Games, motivation, and learning: A research and practice model. Simulation & gaming, 33(4), 441-467. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878102238607
Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY, USA: Palgrave MacMillan.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534-537. doi: 10.1038/nature01647
Griffin, P., McGaw, B., & Care, E. (2012). Assessment & teaching of 21st century skills. Dordrecht, NL: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-9395-7
Henderson, L., Klemes, J., & Eshet, Y. (2000). Just playing a game? Educational simulation software and cognitive outcomes. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 22(1), 105-129. doi: 10.2190/epjt-ahyq-1laj-u8wk
Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, 77(12), 1321-1329.
Murray, J. H. (1997). Hamlet on the holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities. Retrieved from http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf
Nicholson, S. (2016). The State of Escape: Escape Room Design and Facilities. Paper presented at Meaningful Play 2016. Lansing, MI, USA. Retrieved from http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/stateofescape.pdf
Nicholson, S. (2018). Creating Engaging Escape Rooms for the Classroom. Childhood Education, 94(1), 44-49. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2018.1420363
Pan, R., Lo, H., & Neustaedter, C. (2017). Collaboration, awareness, and communication in real-life escape rooms. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (pp. 1353-1364). ACM. doi: 10.1145/3064663.3064767
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Qian, M., & Clark, K. R. (2016). Game-based Learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 50-58.
Rosser, J. C., Lynch, P. J., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D. A., Klonsky, J., & Merrell, R. (2007). The impact of video games on training surgeons in the 21st century. Archives of surgery, 142(2), 181-186. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.142.2.181
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, USA: MIT Press.
Salisbury, F., & Ung, E. (2016). Can you escape the library escape room?. Incite, 37(5/6), 24.
Sung, Y. T., Chang, K. E., & Lee, M. D. (2008). Designing multimedia games for young children’s taxonomic concept development. Computers & Education, 50(3), 1037-1051. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2006.07.011
Warmelink, H., Mayer, I., Weber, J., Heijligers, B., Haggis, M., Peters, E., & Louwerse, M. (2017). AMELIO: Evaluating the team-building potential of a mixed reality escape room game. In Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 111-123). ACM. doi: 10.1145/3130859.3131436
Wiemker, M., Elumir, E., & Clare, A. (2015). Escape room games: Can you transform an unpleasant situation into a pleasant one?. Game Based Learning, 55. Retrieved from https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/digitale-spielewelten.de/blog/media/00511Wiemker%20et%20al%20-%20Paper%20-%20Escape%20Room%20Games.pdf