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Effective risk communication is crucial for enhancing societal resilience. It's not just about scientific strategies; it's also about ensuring that communities are informed and prepared. Educating local populations, especially younger generations, is key to improving disaster readiness. Notably, engaging younger generations assumes significance, given their role as both the future of society and conduits for educating their families. Serious Games, specifically Escape Rooms, present a compelling tool for engaging and interacting with young people. These games, designed not primarily for entertainment but for educational purposes, facilitate active participant involvement, thereby enhancing learning. In our didactic approach, comprising a frontal lesson and an Escape Room, we sought to leverage the appeal of Serious Games to educate young people. This approach was particularly timely during the COVID-19 pandemic, where virtual experiences gained positive evaluations despite the inherent challenges. Italy frequently faces large magnitude earthquakes. Yet many Italians, especially young people, have low seismic risk awareness, hindering preparedness efforts. To address this issue, the use of games and interactive experiences proves promising. By involving young people, seismic risk awareness can be effectively raised, fostering a culture of safety. Throughout the implementation of the Escape Room exercise dedicated to seismic risk, we conducted an evaluation phase both before and after the activities. The insights gained from this evaluation process provided valuable feedback on the learning experience and the effectiveness of the science communication technique. Notably, the virtual nature of the escape room experience was positively evaluated, demonstrating its adaptability during the pandemic. It is imperative to acknowledge that participants in these activities were aged between 15 and 18 years old, requiring ethical considerations in the design and execution of the educational intervention. The findings are highly promising, indicating that students viewed the protocol as beneficial for understanding fundamental concepts in seismology and enhancing their perception of risk. Moreover, the protocol positively influenced students' interest in science and geophysics. Furthermore, an aspect that remains unexplored is the extent to which the knowledge acquired by the participants was disseminated within their families, representing a potential area for future investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconfigurable structures can perform multiple functions and are useful in confined environments with complicated access. To extend the complexity of configurations achievable with reconfigurable mechanisms, remotely reconfigurable mechanisms are explored. Magnetically responsive phase change materials are selected for actuation, and origami backbones as the structure. Modulating the mechanism's coupling and constraints, multiple configurations are achieved. Three functional aspects of in situ reconfiguration are demonstrated. First, selective attachment and actuation enable remote mechanisms to deploy and actuate. Second, reconfiguration that modifies the constraints allows for new kinematics even in confined environments. Third, the actuator can construct and change the configuration of an origami structure, allowing subsequent functions to emerge. Tetherless interface reconfiguration is demonstrated with an in situ needle puncture and escape room puzzle, which can benefit existing robotic applications in confined spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The benefit of pedagogical escape rooms for dental students' stimulation, interest and knowledge strengthening has been suggested by several studies. However, in previous studies, only a few students were evaluated. This study aims to confirm the purpose of this innovative pedagogical tool in terms of learning consolidation and team building from students' perceptions. We directly incorporated an educational escape game into the fundamental academic formation as a practical‐work course for fifth‐year dental students. Materials and Methods: The present escape game focused on 3D printing, whose implementation fit the different steps of an escape game well. This study was conducted in March 2022. All fifth‐year dental students (n = 212) were divided into 5–6 student groups to match the conditions of an escape game. Before entering the room, each student had to complete a cross‐sectional knowledge true/false test of 8 questions to assess their general level. Additionally, an 18‐question appreciation survey was completed when leaving the room. Results: The students perceived the 3D‐printing escape game to be relevant and especially expressed the benefit of being part of a team to exchange and build knowledge. These results suggest knowledge strengthening. The instructional benefit of this process seemed to exceed its mere fun and appealing aspect. Conclusion: Our results with a large number of students showed that, from the students' perception, the educational escape game significantly improved knowledge and team‐building. It created a supportive learning environment and increased students' motivation. It can provide a fun and effective way to diversify instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global rise in cybercrime is fueled by the pervasive digitization of work and personal life, compounded by the shift to online formats during the COVID-19 pandemic. As digital channels flourish, so too do the opportunities for cyberattacks, particularly those exposing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to potential economic devastation. These businesses often lack comprehensive defense strategies and/or the necessary resources to implement effective cybersecurity measures. The authors have addressed this issue by developing an Educational Escape Room (EER) that supports scenario-based learning to enhance cybersecurity awareness among SME employees, enabling them to handle cyber threats more effectively. By integrating hands-on scenarios based on real-life examples, the authors aimed to improve the knowledge retention and the operational performance of SME staff in terms of cybersafe practices. The results achieved during pilot testing with more than 200 participants suggest that the EER approach engaged the trainees and boosted their cybersecurity awareness, marking a step forward in cybersecurity education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical subjects, such as history, usually do not attract the interest of students and as a result educational games and serious games that use augmented reality (AR) are increasingly used as a means of supporting education. It is believed that these games can make the lesson more engaging and contribute to improving student performance. However, relevant research is limited. The present research presents the AR-enhanced serious game "Exploring Ancient Greece" that aims at supporting 10- to 14-year-old students in learning the history of Ancient Greece. It consists of three levels that include: a presentation of archaeological sites with AR that gives students the chance to explore places of historical interest; a trivia game that includes an AR presentation of a monument or piece of art somewhere in the physical surroundings of the students; and an escape room where the player is trapped in an archaeological site and tries to solve riddles to find the exit. To evaluate the game, an empirical study was conducted involving students between the ages of 10 and 14 who answered knowledge questions before and after playing the game, completed a questionnaire including questions based on the System Usability Scale (SUS), as well as questions for evaluating their experience, and answered oral questions. Based on the results of this study, students improved their knowledge of history, evaluated the game positively and stated that they prefer the use of serious games and AR in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundAimDesign and SettingMethodResultsConclusionEducational escape games have become more common, yet their effectiveness needs to be evaluated to establish whether or not they are a constructive pedagogical tool.This study explored students’ experiences of a general practice (GP) based escape game to uncover whether it deserves a place in a medical school’s curriculum.A mixed methods case study within one Scottish Medical School.Data were collected during March 2020 via 32 video recordings of an Escape Room Game, combined with participant, post-game questionnaire analysis. Video footage was reviewed in an ethnographic manner and thematic analysis conducted.Fourteen team events constituting 718 minutes were analysed. From the footage, five themes with fourteen subthemes emerged. The five main themes were: teamwork, leadership, clinical thinking, numeracy, and gamification. From the student questionnaires (n = 131), it was reported that the GP escape room was predominantly an extremely positive educational experience.Educational escape games appear invaluable in medical education. They can promote the growth of non-technical skills such as teamwork, leadership, and clinical thinking; all essential to working in a multidisciplinary team and enabling patient safety. Our participants struggled with numeracy in this high-pressured environment, this must be addressed to reduce potential mistakes made in the workplace. Results are supportive of educational escape games being worthy of a space within a medical school's curriculum. A GP-orientated escape room allows for early GP exposure from a different perspective, as well as equipping students with the skills to be successful in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From June 4th to 7th, 2024, the 112th BiblioCon2024 took place at the Congress Center Hamburg. The conference for the information and library sector was attended by more than 4,200 participants from 30 countries. One focus of the event was the promotion of information literacy and the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in combating misinformation. In a panel discussion, representatives from libraries and information science discussed solutions and concepts for strengthening information literacy and the use of AI. Questions regarding the complexity of the information environment, the further development of the concept of information literacy, and the response to the development of AI were addressed. It is suggested to conduct model experiments to test information literacy in relation to AI. The discussion in the panel discussion revealed that it is important to take action and influence the development of AI. The article also mentions the presentation of the TIP Awards, where three student teams were honored. The projects include the use of a humanoid robot in a library, an escape game on the topic of AI, and the development of a map portal. The article concludes with an outlook on future activities to promote information literacy and combat dis- and misinformation. [Extracted from the article]

Escape rooms are an established game genre that has become popular in educational contexts in recent years. Digital escape rooms are variations, which use digital environments and may be played by participants not present on site. Compared to physical escape rooms, digital escape rooms are characterised by lower implementation and application efforts and at the same time by reduced intensity of the experiences. There is little evidence to date as to whether these low-threshold escape rooms are nevertheless sufficiently effective for learning. In this evaluation study, a learning activity based on a digital educational escape room (DEER) that uses the 360°-based spatial visualization (360VR) of a waterworks and a web-based form - contributing guidance and the escape room-specific challenges - is analysed. In the learning activity, students of environmental engineering study programs are asked to explore the 360VR-based waterworks guided by the instructions and challenges in the web-based form. Quantitative results of the study on learning outcomes and variables relevant to learning, such as emotion, motivation, and usability (N=73) are reported. The evaluation is supported by the qualitative results of guided interviews. Remarkably, some participants would have preferred to explore the 360VR environment without the guidance provided by the web-based form. Overall, the results show the learning effectiveness of the DEER, the efficacy of the web-based form as a guidance instrument, and values of learning-relevant variables that are conducive to learning. The DEER also achieved a high level of acceptance among students. Due to the low effort required for the creation of the DEER by lecturers and for application on the part of students, the presented combination of 360VR and web-based forms can be seen as a powerful low-threshold learning tool that enriches teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly neoliberal course of Higher Education is linked to rises in student anxiety around assessment and increased fear of the consequences of failure. Making mistakes is an inevitable part of any learning process (and of life generally) and managing failure in a productive and positive way is crucial for success and wellbeing beyond university. In this article, we argue that academia does not adequately prepare learners for managing mistake-making progressively and that escape rooms can provide a way to facilitate learning through failure. We first present an original model of failure-based learning that explores why being able to make mistakes safely is important for students and why the use of escape rooms in Higher Education presents an excellent opportunity for the application of this model. We then show the relevance of this model by using it to analyse two case studies that explore different ways in which educational escape rooms can be used in Higher Education: either designed to facilitate learning by playing a game; or supporting learning through designing a game. Our model of failure-based learning has three stages, emphasising the importance of preparation, an iterative play cycle of testing, failing, reflecting, and revising, and finishing with a presentation phase. The article concludes by considering the limitations of educational escape rooms in this context and highlighting some practical considerations for the use of these approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on incorporating strong-correlation (sc) corrections into the scLH22t local hybrid functional [A. Wodyński and M. Kaupp, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 18, 6111–6123 (2022)] used a hybrid procedure, applying a strong-correlation factor derived from the reverse Becke–Roussel machinery of the KP16/B13 and B13 functionals to the nonlocal correlation term of a local hybrid functional. Here, we show that adiabatic-connection factors for strong-correlation-corrected local hybrids (scLHs) can be constructed in a simplified way based on a comparison of semi-local and exact exchange-energy densities only, without recourse to exchange-hole normalization. The simplified procedure is based on a comparative analysis of Becke's B05 real-space treatment of nondynamical correlation and that in LHs, and it allows us to use, in principle, any semi-local exchange-energy density in the variable used to construct local adiabatic connections. The derivation of competitive scLHs is demonstrated based on either a modified Becke–Roussel or a simpler Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) energy density, leading to the scLH23t-mBR and scLH23t-tPBE functionals, which both exhibit low fractional spin errors while retaining good performance for weakly correlated situations. We also report preliminary attempts toward more detailed modeling of the local adiabatic connection, allowing a reduction of unphysical local maxima in spin-restricted bond-dissociation energy curves (scLH23t-mBR-P form). The simplified derivations of sc-factors reported here provide a basis for future constructions and straightforward implementation of exchange-correlation functionals that escape the zero-sum game between low self-interaction and static-correlation errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical education escape rooms are emerging as a viable technological resource for pedagogy-first, learner-centric educational activities. This work presents the evaluation results of the first flipped classroom implementation in medical education, thus utilizing a mobile-driven augmented reality (AR) escape room. A total of 21 first-year medical students attended a flipped classroom educational activity that aimed to acclimate the students with the workflows of basic life support. Knowledge acquisition and user perceptions were evaluated. Knowledge acquisition was evaluated with an ad hoc relevant instrument at three timepoints: (a) baseline at recruitment, (b) preclass after students had prepared for the episode, and (c) after class. Learner perceptions about the activity and the AR escape room were recorded at the activity's end using a previously designed evaluation instrument. The results demonstrated sufficient knowledge acquisition only after completing the whole educational activity, while learners found the experience interesting, and the AR escape room challenging, thus reflecting an activity that was well formulated in structure and content. The challenges identified were the limited out of class collaboration capacity of the digital application and the highly gamified approach that at points counteracted the educational scope of the activity. Overall, these positive initial results demonstrate the potential of collaborative, escape based, activities for self-directed, learner-centric medical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This teaching note illustrates how escape rooms can be utilized as a tool to teach or review business law concepts, encourage student collaboration, and provide an opportunity for gameplay. Escape rooms can be adapted to any topic, made asynchronous, and scaled up to accommodate larger groups. This note also describes the value of incorporating gameplay and collaborative pedagogy activities into the classroom and gives a complete overview of everything needed to complete "Escape the Professor's Office." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of an active learning process, this study investigated the short-term and long-term academic performance of students in two practical sessions of the Histology course, which included an escape room activity. The impact of this approach on motivation and knowledge retention was also assessed. Students were divided into a control group, which followed a traditional teaching methodology, and an experimental group, which participated in the escape room activity. The results revealed significant improvements in post-intervention grades in the experimental group. Additionally, the study assessed students' perceptions of the escape room experience, which showed highly satisfactory evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of active learning activities for evaluation purposes has been reported to improve results in all areas within the education field. In this paper we describe a generic multilevel structure for educational escape rooms, along with a use case where such a design was applied for assessment in a course within the STEM area. Furthermore, a project-based learning activity was also added to complement that assessment. The results obtained expose an increase in both academic performance and success rate, where the percentage rises in both cases go in line to the literature. Additionally, a high level of engagement was measured during those active learning activities, which is reported to lead to better performance and improved learning. Hence, this high engagement seems to be the primary source of the increments experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Escape rooms are increasingly used in medical education as a complementary learning technique or even alternative to traditional educational approaches. Few studies focus on debriefing following medical escape rooms and how escape rooms can be used to achieve pre-defined learning objectives. Evaluating the use of narrow learning objectives may increase the depth of reflections and transform an engaging team event into an effective learning opportunity. This study aimed to explore participants' experiences and perceived learning outcomes of narrow learning objectives in a medical escape room with debriefing. Methods: In this explorative, qualitative study, participants saw a video lecture, participated in an escape room experience, and in a following debriefing. Throughout this learning session, the learning objectives concerned "exchange of information" and are therefore relatively narrow. Participants then participated in a semi-structured focus group interview and completed a demographic questionnaire. Participants were volunteer final-year medical students. Focus group interview recordings were transcribed and analysed using systematic text condensation. Results: Thirty-two students in eight groups completed the study. Five themes were described in the analysis of the focus group interviews: Experience with the narrow learning objectives, topics discussed in the debriefing, learning mechanisms, learning outcomes concerning exchange of information and influences of the learning approach. Conclusions: Narrow learning objectives and structured debriefing seem to increase perceived learning depth of medical escape room sessions. Using semi-structured debriefing still allows for discussions of other elements relevant to the students. Clinical trials: Clinical.trials ID NCT04783259. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: University education is looking for innovative ways to enrich the teaching-learning process. Methods: This study aims to describe and compare two gamified experiences: an educational Escape Room and a digital goose board game with Genially. The design of this research follows a quantitative correlational methodology. A total of 135 university students in the first year of the Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education participated in the study. Results: Data were collected using the Gamified Game Experience Scale (GAMEX). The results of contrasting means for the game dimensions between both gamified experiences reveal a significant variability (p < 0.01) in favor of the Escape Room in fun, absorption, creative thinking, activation and mastery. On the other hand, the absence of negative affect was significant (p < 0.05) in favor of the digital board game. Discussion: It could be said that the educational Escape Room manifests itself as a powerful resource for learning. However, it can induce a high level of stress, generating discomfort, hostility and frustration in students, so its implementation is not free of negative effects. These findings provide additional empirical evidence that could guide the design of gamified experiences in the Higher Education environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contribute to faultline research by identifying familiarity and cross-subgroup communication as potential moderators in the relationship between diversity faultline and team performance. We employ a novel experimental design utilizing escape rooms as a noninterventional social laboratory, enabling us to capture real-time interactions among 40 teams engaged in problem-solving activities. We find that team familiarity has a negative influence and a suppression effect on success. Faultline affects team success negatively when faultline-induced subgroups do not communicate enough with each other. Our work contributes to a better understanding of complex processes and interdependencies that lead to team success or failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Im Sinne des Game Based Learnings verfolgen Educational Escape Games (EEGs) das Ziel, den unterrichtlichen Lernprozess mit Spielelementen zu verbinden, um so die Motivation der Schüler:innen für eine fachliche Auseinandersetzung zu steigern und ihnen einen veränderten Zugang zu den Fachinhalten anzubieten. Verschiedene Forschungsprojekte können zeigen, dass derartige Lernsettings insbesondere auch einen Beitrag zur Steigerung überfachlicher Kompetenzen leisten. Um jedoch als adäquate Alternative zum regulären Chemieunterricht eingesetzt werden zu können, bedarf es neben dem Blick auf das Spielkonzept einer starken Fokussierung auf die fachinhaltliche Perspektive sowie die sich daraus ergebenen unterrichtlichen Konsequenzen. Der Artikel liefert eine theoretische Ausdifferenzierung von EEGs aus Fachinhaltsperspektive und zeigt auf, wie einzelne Facetten miteinander wechselwirken. Daraus werden Planungs‐ und Forschungskonsequenzen unter Bezug auf die Unterrichtsqualitätsbereiche abgeleitet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing human-made environmental problems such as deforestation is an ongoing educational challenge. Promising educational approaches include cooperative decision-making and attempt via a high level of motivation to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Knowledge about the forest ecosystem, including its threats, is supposed to strengthen responsibilities and individual behavioral preferences. The "Save the Forests!" module engages students in hands-on learning activities under the frame of an educational Escape Game (Edu Breakout). Based on nine workstations, it includes various cooperative activities focusing on the forest ecosystem, its ecosystem services, and common tree species. Students realize advantages of recycling, gain insight into paper production and associated resource consumption, compare eco-labels for sustainable paper products, and reflect on consumer decisions. Additionally, the students learn about habitat situations after clear-cutting, forest fires, or storm damages (succession), including strategies for dealing with deadwood based on scientific data. Besides experiments and challenging tasks, students learn about the ecological footprint and greenwashing by clarifying often-used terms in sustainability contexts. In an accompanied quantitative study approach, students participating in the learning module significantly increased their knowledge scores in a pre-post comparison (n = 135, p < 0.001, d = 0.58). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a zero-sum differential game is formulated and solved in which a mobile Evader seeks to escape from within a circle at whose origin lies a stationary, turn-constrained Turret. The scenario is a variant of the famous Lady in the Lake game in which the shore-constrained Pursuer has been replaced with the Turret. As in the former, it is assumed that the Turret's maximum angular rate is greater than the linear velocity of the Evader. Since two outcomes are possible, a Game of Kind arises - either the Evader wins by reaching the perimeter of the circle, or the Turret wins by aligning with the latter's position. A barrier surface partitions the state space into two regions corresponding to these two outcomes and a Game of Degree is solved within each region. The solutions to the Games of Degree are comprised of the Value functions (i.e., the equilibrium value of the cost/utility as a function of the state) and the saddle-point equilibrium control policies for the two players. Like the Lady in the Lake game, the equilibrium policy of the Evader is not uniquely defined where it has angular rate advantage over the Turret. Unlike the Lady in the Lake game, the losing region for the Evader is present for all speed ratios, and there is an additional semi-permeable surface separating center- and shore-bound Evader trajectories. The solution depends heavily upon the speed ratio of the agents; in particular, there are two speed ratio regimes with distinctive solution structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing trend of "escape games" in science education instigates debate over their pedagogical value, with researchers calling for more emphasis on theory-based design processes. Thus, the current study's goal was to identify situated learning components that can be associated with educational escape games and to generate a methodology that integrates these components into the design of science-based educational escape games. Applying the deductive content analysis approach, data were collected through a survey and semi-structured interviews among 54 science teachers and seven game design experts. Four situated learning components, authentic situations, scientific contents, collaborative learning, and self-reflection, were associated with the design of educational escape games. In addition, planning and evaluation were identified as important attributes of game design methodology, with each stage including three iterative sequential inner stages associated with two or more situated learning components. The study contributes new insights to the domain of science-based educational escape games, providing guidelines and examples for science teachers and game developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fake news is increasingly becoming a major problem for global social coexistence, for example by undermining trust in democracies. There is a consensus that educational institutions need to respond and prepare students to recognize fake news. Teachers have a central role to play in preparing students and therefore need to learn about fake news during their studies. Previous research has shown that games are particularly effective for learning about fake news, but the group of pre-service teachers has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study is to address this gap by examining whether pre-service teachers can learn about fake news using the augmented reality escape game Escape Fake. To investigate this question, a pre-/post-test design was conducted with 45 pre-service teachers (four males, mean age=22.59 years, standard deviation=1.80). The results show that after playing Escape Fake, the pre-service teachers demonstrate significantly higher knowledge about fake news, are significantly more critical towards online information, and are significantly more confident in being able to recognize fake news in the future. However, playing the game did not promote the ability to discern real from false information. The paper discusses reasons for this finding and suggests ways to improve learning with the game. Implications and future research needs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the use of Moodle-based escape room education for medical students through synchronous distance learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the adoption of remote education, including game-based education like escape rooms. Online escape rooms, known as Digital Educational Escape Rooms (DEERs), have become popular during the pandemic. The study focuses on designing and developing DEERs using Moodle and Zoom for teaching basic professionalism and peer collaboration for medical students. The results show that DEERs can engage student communication and discussion in online synchronous classes. [Extracted from the article]

Knowledge about genetics is essential to build a society capable of participating in socio-scientific debates. However, the teaching-learning process of this subject involves many difficulties, requiring the development of new educational strategies, to facilitate its understanding and evaluation. An alternative could be the implementation of a BreakoutEDU, a specific type of gamification similar to the famous escape room, in which students face the challenge of opening a box. To achieve this, students must solve a series of challenges during which they acquire or reinforce learning about the chosen content. Thus, three main objectives are established in this work: a) to design a gamified activity of the BreakoutEDU type to evaluate the contents on gene expression; b) to study the students' perceptions of the activity and the emotions experienced with it and c) to analyze the suitability and usefulness of the activity from the point of view of the teacher in charge of the classroom. The BreakoutEDU has been implemented with a group of 28 students and its evaluation has been carried out by means of questionnaires, observation templates, videotaping and an interview with the teacher in charge. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results shows that the designed BreakoutEDU is a good strategy to contextualize, evaluate and approach the abstract content of gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marie Curie Lab STEAM Room is an immersive interactive didactic activity with an educational approach STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), which integrates these disciplines and uses active teaching methodologies, in this case an educational escape room, for the achievement of significant learning. The objective of the activity is to bring the participants closer to science in a playful way, working on curricular contents of the STEAM disciplines in a context of interest to students, which promotes the development of skills for the 21st century. The escape room was presented in the first semester of 2022, at the Institute of Engineering to the university community. Four presentations were made, each with four teams of approximately three members, who worked collaboratively to overcome the challenges posed. The result of the presentation shows that the participants favorably evaluated the activity, found it creative, fun, and stated that they had learned about chemistry, teamwork and about Marie Curie as a scientific figure of reference. The implementation of this activity shows that educational escape rooms are attractive immersion experiences for the participants. In addition to that they can be designed aligned to the curriculum of various subjects, for implementation in the classroom. They develop skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity; these experiences are demanding, challenging, interesting and fun at the same time. At the end of this investigation it was identified that there is an area of teacher training opportunity in relation to integrating this type of methodologies in teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

„Eingesperrt in einem Restaurant, welches Schauplatz eines Mordes geworden ist, umgeben von hinterlassenen Spuren und unzähligen Verdächtigen, muss der Mörder überführt werden." In diesem linearen Escape Room müssen Jugendliche in möglichst kurzer Zeit über verschiedene Experimente der Lebensmittelchemie (u. a. Biuret‐ und Fehlingprobe, Ethanolnachweis) den Täter anhand seiner Ernährungsgewohnheiten enttarnen. Die Konzeption des Gourmet Mörders verfolgt das Ziel der intrinsisch motivierten Beschäftigung mit naturwissenschaftlichen Themen in einem jugendfreizeitlichen Kontext. Der mobile Escape Room wurde angesichts des motivierenden Potentials des Jugendfreizeitbereichs für die Arbeit im außerschulischen und außerunterrichtlichen Kontext konzipiert und erprobt. Ein erstes Feedback zum Escape Room Format mit 145 Teilnehmenden legt nahe, dass es geeignet ist, um in einem außerschulischen und außerunterrichtlichen Rahmen Begeisterung für das Praktizieren von Naturwissenschaften zu wecken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education about climate change faces an evolution of the knowledge, and universities should respond with innovative learning processes. As facilitators can adapt to these changes, they will be able to improve learning experiences for students. In this work, learning experiences about climate change were evaluated in undergraduate students without engineering background, as function of the size of the group, duration of the course, gamification activities and technology and virtual tools experiences. The implementation of these activities in the intensive 5-week course focused on climate change education has revealed valuable insights into student motivation, attitude, knowledge acquisition, and engagement. Notably, students' trust in information sources about climate change exhibited variations, with global organizations garnering higher confidence compared to local and personal sources. In a 15-week course exposed to virtual tools (e.g. escape room), the diagnostic test highlighted a 53% understanding level, particularly challenging in numeric aspects. However, the escape room significantly improved results in the final exam, demonstrating a 93% correctness rate, emphasizing the effectiveness of the activities in reinforcing key climate change concepts. On the other hand, the emergence of climate change-themed escape room as an engagement tool demonstrated its potential in enhancing knowledge acquisition and cooperative learning. In addition, Escape room offered an immersive environment that encourages active participation, enabling students to grasp complex climate concepts and solutions more effectively. The study underscores that climate education should go beyond facts, emphasizing universities' crucial role in nurturing the "climate change generation" with the knowledge and motivation for meaningful contributions to climate action and policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanoid robotics is an emerging field striving to deploy technological devices capable of resembling and mimicking the human form. Primarily, the capability of human-like robots to interact with people has proved to be contributory in areas such as education and caretaking, but less so in adult training. In this study, we outline the design and experiment of an escape room training activity facilitated by a humanoid robot (HR), NAO. An escape room is a gamified activity where a team of players must complete a series of challenges to "escape from the room" by opening four locks in a limited amount of time. Opening each lock required the team to find hints and solve problems mediated by NAO. During the activity, NAO provided ongoing feedback on the team's performance. Ten experts evaluated the experience and were asked about their overall assessment of the activity and the added value of NAO as a mediator. The results on the feasibility of NAO's serving as motivating tutor in adults' collaborative game-based learning were very encouraging. We believe this study marks the first step toward developing a generic template for learning and training processes supported by a HR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This teaching case creates an Escape Room experience for managerial accounting students to reinforce relevant costing and short-term decision concepts. Within the Escape Room, students analyze five short-term decisions within 50 minutes to "escape" for the weekend. Specifically, students identify relevant information, perform the necessary calculations, and evaluate their results to make a recommendation on how to improve firm profitability. The Escape Room seeks to build a greater understanding of relevant costing by creating a narrative, linking the five short-term decisions, and formatting every decision using an input-process-output (IPO) framework. The Escape Room also uses gamification elements to promote engagement and interest in learning these concepts. Students agree that the Escape Room increases engagement and fosters an understanding of relevant costing and short-term decision concepts. We see one of the strongest benefits of the Escape Room is its ability to scale across class formats and provide automatic feedback to students. Data Availability: Data are available upon request. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geology in secondary education has faced many difficulties when it comes to teaching in the classroom with a holistic, contextualized and applicable approach for students. Currently, there is a growing commitment from teachers to implement innovative teaching methods that place students as the active subjects of their learning. The Educational Escape Room (EER) is a tool within Game-Based Learning that consists of designing challenges and puzzles within a theme where theoretical contents are dynamically addressed. In this approach, students must solve a series of tests within 45 minutes and find the final key with which they will be able to leave the classroom. The present work consists of designing an analogical EER proposal on earthquakes and implementing it as an assessment instrument within a didactic unit for students in the 4th year of ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education, in its Spanish acronym). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant volume of literature has extensively reported on and presented the benefits of employing escape classroom games (ECGs), on one hand, and on augmented reality (AR) in English language learning, on the other. However, there is little evidence on how AR-powered ECGs can enhance deep and meaningful foreign language learning. Hence, this study presents the design, development and user evaluation of an innovative augmented reality escape classroom game created for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). The game comprises an imaginative guided group tour around the Globe Theatre in London that is being disrupted by Shakespeare's ghost. The game was evaluated by following a qualitative research method that depicts the in-depth perspectives of ten in-service English language teachers. The data collection instruments included a 33-item questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that this escape game is a suitable pedagogical tool for deep and meaningful language learning and that it can raise cultural awareness, while enhancing vocabulary retention and the development of receptive and productive skills in English. Students' motivation and satisfaction levels toward language learning are estimated to remain high due to the game's playful nature, its interactive elements, as well as the joyful atmosphere created through active communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and peer work. This study provides guidelines and support for the design and development of similar augmented reality escape classroom games (ARECGs) to improve teaching practices and foreign language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, we focus on the stimulation of pupils' experimental activity using escape rooms. The text includes a division of escape rooms into six genres. In one of the genres, we also included the activity of the escape room created by us. By using the escape room we created, we tried to find out whether escape rooms are a suitable tool for stimulating pupils to do experimental activities in physics classes. We conducted a survey with pupils in the third year of an eight-year high school (13-14 years old). The number of pupils varied (18-19) as the survey was conducted over two weeks. We created a questionnaire consisting of seven questions. The questions were about pupil emotional engagement while doing experiments. We determined the suitability of the teaching tool for stimulating pupils using the answers to the questions from the questionnaire, which are related to the stimulation of experimental activity. We also compared the activities - Escape Room and Experiments given by a question using a comparative questionnaire. From the pilot survey, we found that escape rooms stimulate pupils to experiment more than the commonly used experiments given by a question in physics classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of using an escape room in foreign language teaching fits perfectly with the needs of today's learners, where we create a natural learning environment using digital tools. In the winter semester 2022/2023, a project entitled 'My linguistic Escape Room (ER)' was carried out among 60 third-year undergraduate students of German Studies at the University of Warsaw Institute of German Studies as part of the subject 'Contemporary trends in language learning'. This project comprised three phases and was preceded by theoretical and practical lectures on the specifics of ER, as well as a review of analogue and digital games. The initial part of the project consisted of the lecturer initiating the project, discussing topic proposals in a forum, dividing into teams and developing a preliminary project plan. The core part involved independent work in teams and the final part involved the presentation of ER scenarios to the forum and their evaluation. Each of these parts was carried out exclusively in German. The following article presents the results of the project. The tool used to collect the research material was a questionnaire. The aim of the study was to identify the opinions of 3rd year undergraduate German studies students on the use of escape rooms in higher education. The main part of the survey concerns the advantages and difficulties experienced during each of the three phases. In the final section of the survey, students declare a desire for further escape room games at university and also during their further academic career. This fact reinforces the belief that escape rooms are an interesting and engaging activation technique at university, which should become a permanent part of the teaching repertoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The conventional mode of medical education is delivered using didactic lectures, wherein teachers disseminate the desired information to a large number of students in a structured manner. The purpose of the current review is to explore the scope and need of escape rooms in medical education and identify the potential considerations to be acknowledged while designing an escape room in a medical college for training undergraduate medical students. Escape rooms in principle refer to the learning environments that are interactive and immersive, in the sense that students who are part of these rooms are posed with a puzzle or a challenge or a task that must be solved by them within a defined period of timeframe to eventually escape from the room, which is the ultimate goal of such sessions. The success of escape rooms is determined depending by the way it has been designed, in terms of their ability to engage the involved participants and promote collaboration. In conclusion, the employment of escape rooms in medical education is an innovative teaching-learning method to overcome the limitations of conventional strategies. Acknowledging the merits of escape rooms in the development of critical thinking and teamwork skills, it is the need of the hour that every medical institution must explore the possibility and introduce it within their settings to ensure experiential and long-term learning among medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we follow the co-constitutive material-participant relationships that propel action in escape room play, particularly how they open and close paths for learning. We focus on how learning is organized in one escape room game, The Author’s Enigma, as intertwined with conversations on play and learning to consider the relational values and ideologies that appear through more-than-human encounters. We contribute a critical (new) materialist draw toward material-participant intra-actions to notice the production of narrowed messages, as well as openings that lead toward multiplicity. Thinking-with-theory; we take up Ahmed’s (2006) concepts of orientation and disorientation to consider objects’ arrivals and their not-yet-presence. We also move with Barad’s (2003) concept of intra-action, perceiving more-than-human actors as ‘matter-in-the-process-of-becoming’. Following a conch shell as a vibrant material in the ecology of escape, we trace participants and the shell through moments of intra-action across escape play. We detail the communicative forms produced through material intra-actions as both open and closed, while producing resonant logics with players in the room. We discuss implications for: 1) game-based approaches to education; 2) disruption to assimilative lenses for sensing and supporting learning; and 3) valuing particular relational arrangements with materials.

Recently, education and teaching have been significantly impacted by information and communication technologies. New cohorts of students, COVID-19 pandemic and pressure in the labour market on the labour force to master the technology-related skills and competence serve as main drivers for universities to redesign the way of teaching. A radical transformation of education caused by technologies is related to several aspects, such as online teaching or using other technologies in both physical and online learning environments with the focus on student-centred learning. The existing literature suggests that educational innovation through technologies allows for the adoption of collaborative, inclusive and student-driven pedagogy. The paper aims at revealing educational innovation through information and communication technologies in one of the courses for master’s students, namely People Analytics. While disclosing the particular case of one course, the paper seeks to provide the argumentation (advantages and disadvantages) for choosing specific tools and how these tools are embedded. The use of tools such as Zoom, digital escape rooms, Mentimeter, and Padlet, is presented. The paper concludes that technologies may offer many wide-ranging benefits in education; however, the further study is needed for revealing the students’ acceptance of technologies and the impact of technologies on learning outcomes.

The global rise in cybercrime is fueled by the pervasive digitization of work and personal life, compounded by the shift to online formats during the COVID-19 pandemic. As digital channels flourish, so too do the opportunities for cyberattacks, particularly those exposing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to potential economic devastation. These businesses often lack comprehensive defense strategies and/or the necessary resources to implement effective cybersecurity measures. The authors have addressed this issue by developing an Educational Escape Room (EER) that supports scenario-based learning to enhance cybersecurity awareness among SME employees, enabling them to handle cyber threats more effectively. By integrating hands-on scenarios based on real-life examples, the authors aimed to improve the knowledge retention and the operational performance of SME staff in terms of cybersafe practices. The results achieved during pilot testing with more than 200 participants suggest that the EER approach engaged the trainees and boosted their cybersecurity awareness, marking a step forward in cybersecurity education.

Background: In the context of an aging population, the Gerontological Nursing course is becoming more and more important. Escape room games have been shown to have a positive effect on nursing education, but they have not been applied in the Gerontological Nursing course. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of adding an escape room game-based learning activity at the end of classroom teaching in a Gerontological Nursing course on nursing students' learning attitude and game flow experience. Methods: In April 2023, a total of 84 nursing students from two classes at a medical school in Northeast China were selected for the study, and the classes were divided into a test group (n = 41) and a control group (n = 43). Both groups received regular classroom teaching on "Safe Medication Care for the Elderly", and the test group participated in an escape room game at the end of the classroom teaching. General information about the nursing students in both groups was collected prior to participation; learning attitude were measured before and after participation; and game flow experience was measured before and after participation in the test group. Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests and paired samples t-tests. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the general information and learning attitude of nursing students between the two groups before participation. After participation, the total learning attitude score of nursing students in the test group was (73.17 ± 1.67) and that of the control group was (61.63 ± 2.66), and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 5.196). The game flow experience of nursing students in the test group before and after participation was (63.27 ± 2.48) and (81.29 ± 2.49), respectively, and the difference between before and after was statistically significant (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 5.253). Conclusions: During the teaching process of the Gerontological Nursing course, an escape room game added at the end of classroom teaching can improve nursing students' learning attitude and also help them to have a good game flow experience. These findings suggest that teaching activities based on the escape room game have considerable practical application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of an innovative interprofessional educational activity on healthcare professional students' learning. The educational activity targeted student knowledge of opioid use disorder (OUD) and perceptions of working with an interprofessional team while caring for patients with OUD. Methods: Students from nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, dentistry, social work, and medicine programs were recruited to participate in the interprofessional educational activity. The educational experience included seven asynchronous modules and a virtual synchronous escape room. Prior to the educational programming, participants completed a pre-survey that assessed their knowledge and attitudes towards working on an interprofessional team and perceptions of patients with OUD. The asynchronous modules were required in order to participate in the escape room and each module contained its own pre/post quiz to assess student knowledge. Results: A total of 402 students participated in the course. Prior to participating in the course, students disagreed that they had extensive educational experience with SUD (2.45 ± 0.79). The students displayed significant improvement in the knowledge based areas after completing the seven asynchronous modules. The largest significant area of knowledge-based improvement was seen in treatment of OUD where on the pre-quiz 65.54 ± 20.21% were answered correctly compared to 95.97 ± 9.61% on the post-quiz. Participation in the escape room significantly changed the students' perceptions of working in interprofessional teams while managing patients with OUD. Of the eleven perception variables assessed, seven showed a significant increase in the post-survey. Following the escape room, participants also strongly agreed that they now would refer patients to colleagues in other disciplines. Conclusions: An interprofessional educational experience including both an asynchronous course and virtual synchronous escape room can increase participant knowledge around OUD and may improve student perceptions of working with an interprofessional team and caring for patients with OUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that privacy is essential for the personal boundaries of Muslim women who implement the hijab as part of their religious rules in terms of spatial practices within their environments. Visual aspects in relation to the concept of "seeing but not being seen" are fundamental in providing privacy. The "escape room" is a manifestation of spatial practices for privacy needs related to the presence of others who are not mahram in Islamic rules. Not only is the "escape room" a space (room) with dimensions of length, width, and height, but it also exists in the form of clothing. In this case study research, nine Muslim women respondents were observed and interviewed in depth and data relating to their clothes and their behavioral reactions in the presence of others in their dwellings were coded and analyzed. The study reveals that the privacy needs of Muslim women are strongly related to their religious beliefs and that to obtain this privacy these women create an "escape room". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed an escape room based on the basic principles of pharmacokinetics for undergraduate bachelor students and explored its effect on students' perceived motivational climate and usefulness as a formative assessment via a mixed‐method design. The effect on students' perceptions of the motivational climate was measured using pre‐ and post‐test measurements of the MUSIC® inventory. Students' experiences with the escape room and suggestions for improvement were collected by open‐ended survey questions. Forty‐one students initially joined the study while 28 students completed both the pre‐ and post‐test MUSIC® inventory. Data from the MUSIC® inventory revealed the effect of playing the escape room on students' situational interest was positive with medium to large effect (Cohen's dav = 0.63). Data from the open‐ended questions confirmed the outcome of the MUSIC® inventory. While there was a positive effect on situational interest, students found the escape room not very useful as a tool for formative assessment. Further research should include a control group and focus on the effect of the escape room on academic success and work toward increasing the capacity of the escape room for large‐scale courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an innovative approach which attempts to comprise holistic features, focusing on the meaning and at the same time providing opportunities for purposeful language use (Dalton - Puffer, 2007). Based on the triptych language of learning, language for learning and language through learning-this program aims at creating innovative educational escape rooms, in order to adopt CLIL, to develop skills in the target language (English) and at the same time to emphasize context and meaning. The program-designed for 5th grade students of a Primary School in Northern Greecewas piloted for 5 months, giving them the opportunity to "travel to Greek neighborhoods" and enganging them in the subjects of geography, history and culture, using English,-with great enthusiasm. Various web2 tools, videos, games, websites were incorporated in the escape rooms to provide authentic material so as to enhance authentic communication in the English language and also to use different types of context so as to support language and content knowledge. The program was assessed and evaluated using alternative ways and the results indicated the positive effects of CLIL on the students' skills in English (TL) along with the significantly developed familiarization with the content through a creative, enthusiastic, motivating setting for students promoting active involvement and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escape rooms in medical education are a novel, game-based learning approach for teaching medical topics. In these escape rooms, learners complete a sequential series of medical-themed puzzles leading them to "escape" a specific story. Designing puzzles can be anxiety-provoking and may be the gatekeeper for educators in medicine to create their own escape rooms. Though there have been publications on the importance and methods of building a healthcare-themed-escape room, there is a gap in the literature on designing puzzles to teach specific learning objectives successfully. In this Scholarly Perspective, the authors share puzzle ideas and support tools and use Bloom's taxonomy as the framework to teach educators how to design challenging and engaging escape room puzzles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]