INCLUSION OF THE “ESCAPE ROOM” EXPERIENCE AS A LEARNING METHODOLOGY IN LABORATORY PRACTICES

L. Quiles-Carrillo¹, E. Rayón², D. Garcia-Sanoguera³, A. Calderón-Rodríguez⁴,
S. Rojas-Lema⁵, O. Fenollar⁶*

¹ Dr. Grupo de Innovación de Prácticas Académicas, Universitat Politècnica de València, SPAIN

² Dr. Grupo de Innovación de Prácticas Académicas, Universitat Politècnica de València, SPAIN

³ Dr. Grupo de Innovación de Prácticas Académicas, Universitat Politècnica de València, SPAIN

⁴ Ms. Universidad de Alicante, SPAIN

⁵ Ms. Grupo de Innovación de Prácticas Académicas, Universitat Politècnica de València, SPAIN

⁶ Dr. Grupo de Innovación de Prácticas Académicas, Universitat Politècnica de València, SPAIN

*Corresponding author

Abstract

The implementation of these new methodologies in the field of laboratory practices is capable of attracting the attention of students, generating a great educational advantage. In this context, the authors have incorporated the escape room into the laboratory practices of a fourth-year subject of the mechanical engineering degree as a new methodology capable of improving the knowledge and curiosity of undergraduates. With this methodology, we obtain an improvement in the student's performance and involvement. In this sense, the final objective of the escape room has been modified, which is based on leaving a room from a series of tracks and challenges, in order to adapt it to laboratory practices.  Following the dynamics of the search for clues and the use of logic to solve different challenges and problems, the students instead of leaving a room are able to complete the final report of the practices. During this process, students dynamically complete the contents of each practice by following different tracks, challenges and games, which provide them with the necessary information to move forward and effectively learn the most relevant knowledge.

The inclusion of these methodologies in laboratory practices has been progressively developed with the aim of analysing behaviour and opinion, as well as the results obtained by the students. The results obtained verify that these types of techniques are suitable for the incorporation of a greater number of transversal competences in the classrooms, directly improving the quality of learning in the classrooms and, consequently, the training of better professionals.

The incorporation of the escape room as a methodology within the formation of laboratory practices, allows undergraduates to learn in a dynamic and autonomous way the main concepts. This allows them to participate in their learning process, generating better feedback between their peers and the teacher.  This experience provides applicable information in the teaching and learning processes that are developed in any university specialty. Student satisfaction and results have been evaluated in relation to the new method, obtaining good results and generating a significant improvement in the same reports with respect to previous years.

Keywords: Escape room, innovation, new methodologies, student motivation.