Interactive learning in Biology: the animal physiology escape room challenge

Abstract

The use of escape rooms as a learning strategy has become very popular in recent years within higher education, mainly in a virtual way. This gamification technique creates a collaborative setting where participants work together to reach a shared goal. In the context of its impact on education, it has been shown to improve student motivation and foster the development of social and curricular skills. Animal Physiology is a mandatory subject taught in the third year of the Biology Degree at the Complutense University of Madrid. A group of educators involved in teaching this core subject have recently noted a decrease in the active participation and interest of the students, resulting in a reduced efficiency of the teaching-learning process. For these reasons, we implemented an innovative and interactive teaching method: an educational escape room to promote student participation and active learning in this subject.

To achieve this goal, we have designed and developed an in-person escape room to reinforce concepts pinpointed by the students as “more difficult” in the annual satisfaction surveys and to encourage their curiosity and interest in the subject in a ludic way. In this regard, the activity integrated the contents of the Nervous System block, and it was entitled: “Salvando a Ramón y Cajal” (Saving Ramón y Cajal). Twenty students participated and were asked to freely team up in groups of four to five students before the start of the activity. The escape room was performed after theoretical and practical contents of the Nervous System were taught. The activity was organized in four linear stages, and the participants assumed the role of students in the Ramón y Cajal laboratory with the mission of finding his drawings hidden somewhere on the premises. To complete this quest, students within each team cooperated to solve the different puzzles and questions in each stage related to the Nervous System topics covered in previous lectures. Four teams participated, and the team that found the drawings in the shortest time won a symbolic prize.

After the activity, we conducted opinion surveys with a Likert-type scale, both for teachers and students, in order to evaluate the degree of satisfaction with the escape room. The survey results showed very satisfactory findings. Thus, most students (90-100%) agreed that the activity had increased their interest in the subject and had reinforced the theoretical concepts. Furthermore, students stated that the escape room had encouraged them to study the subject and that they preferred this way of consolidating concepts instead of a traditional lesson guided by the teacher. Students also indicated that this activity seemed a very novel and useful dynamic for their learning, and that they would like similar activities to be introduced throughout the Animal Physiology subject. Regarding integration with their peers, 75% of students stated that this activity had increased their collaboration with the rest of students. In addition, students emphasized the innovative, interactive, and entertaining role of this activity. Teachers were also very positive about the escape room, considering this educational strategy a suitable teaching tool to extend to other subjects.

To conclude, introducing an educational escape room has garnered very positive feedback from students and has effectively enhanced their engagement with the content, fostering active learning.