THE GREAT ESCAPE�CREATING A SIMULATION ESCAPE ROOM�FOR YOUR STUDENTS
Liz Santamaria, BSRC, RRT
Stephanie Marcincavage, BS, RRT
ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP
Participants will learn how simulation escape rooms can play an integral role in effectively creating a more engaging learning environment, all while improving learning outcomes and allowing students to develop 21st century skills.
Major components of an escape room will be discussed, along with considerations, limitations, and tips.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
DISCUSS
LIST
IDENTIFY
Discuss benefits to student learning from incorporating simulation escape rooms into a course.
List key principles of building a simulation escape room.
Identify challenges, limitations, and considerations of building a simulation escape room.
DISCLAIMER
While the presenters specialize in the health sciences, the implementation of escape rooms can be done for a wide variety of subjects.
Healthcare, STEM, strategic communication, creative design, English, disaster preparedness, information literacy, workplace situations, and institutional learning outcomes can all be used to create the theme for your own simulation escape room.
WHAT IS AN ESCAPE ROOM?
“A live-action team-based game where players discover clues, solves puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal (usually escaping from the room) in a limited amount of time”
-Tarldsen et al., 2022
Why might an escape room be a good fit for your learner?
RELATION TO LEARNING
“21ST CENTURY” SKILLS
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
GAME-BASED LEARNING
LEARNING THEORIES
IMPROVING LEARNING OUTCOMES
AUTHENTIC, REAL-LIFE SCENARIOS
MOTIVATION, ENTHUSIASM, CURIOSITY
APPLYING CURRICULUM CONTENT
“21ST CENTURY” SKILLS
WORK QUICKLY, COMPETENTLY, & EFFICIENTLY AS A TEAM
MAKE THE EXPERIENCE OF A SUBJECT FUN, GENERATE CURIOSITY AND ENTHUSIASM IN DISCUSSION
CRITICAL THINKING, CREATIVITY, GROUP DYNAMICS, INITIATIVE, PROBLEM-SOLVING
APPLY PREVIOUSLY LEARNED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN A MORE COMPLEX WAY; FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
How do escape rooms engage the learner?
LEARNER ENGAGEMENT DIRKSEN, 2016
URGENCY
COLLABORATION
“SHINY THINGS”
Students are more engaged when they sense immediacy and are presented with time constraints. Students want to focus on the “right now” with a compelling dilemma.
Students tend to perform better when interacting with peers. Group dynamics allow for students to support and serve as resources for each other.
Tactile activities can keep students focused. Physical interaction attracts attention by means of a different type of interaction with the content.
PRINCIPLES OF �ESCAPE ROOMS �Laerdal (n.d.)
A STORY
Your SER should have an appropriate theme and narrative to encourage learners to take their roles seriously.
A DIFFICULTY LEVEL
Having an appropriate level of difficulty challenges learners in concepts they have already been introduced to. They should never be so difficult to prevent completion.
A REALISTIC ENVIRONMENT
Using a realistic environment reinforces desired skills, like communication, critical thinking and problem solving.
A PRE-BRIEF
An introduction to the event to explain rules, delegate roles, and introduce the scenario.
A TIME LIMIT
Depending on your learning objectives and puzzle layout, SERs usually are 15 to 60 minutes.
A DEBRIEF
Students benefit from reflection on their experience, explanation of their decisions and actions, and asking questions.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF AN ESCAPE ROOM
BUT FIRST…
Identify your theme. This will not only help create your learning objectives, but also your narrative later.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
WHAT
The skills, behavior, or knowledge you expect your students to learn at the end of the simulation.
WHO
Identify your learners. What have they already been introduced to? What skill or knowledge level do they already have? (Harrington & Simon, 2021)
WHY
Creating your learning objectives will help in the construction and progression of your SER (Baily, 2021).
HOW
Determine if your objectives are related to assessment skills, care plans/protocols, soft skills, or physical skills (Baily, 2021).
BE S.M.A.R.T
BE S.M.A.R.T. HARRINGTON & SIMON, 2021
What do you need to achieve?
Who needs involvement to accomplish the goal?
When do you want to have your goal finished?
Why exactly should your students achieve this goal?
SPECIFIC
How can you measure progress and know if your students have successfully met the goal?
MEASURABLE
ATTAINABLE/ACHIEVABLE
Are your students capable of achieving the goal?
Do your students have the needed skills?
Can the learners meet the goals through simulation?
BE S.M.A.R.T. HARRINGTON & SIMON, 2021
Why should your learners achieve this goal?
What is the impact?
RELEVANT
What is the timeline of your goal?
Can the learning objectives be met in the time allotted for the scenario?
TIMELY
Bambini, 2016
EXTRA TIPS
STRUCTURE
“The learner will…”
Continue with a verb, followed by an object.
Use Bloom’s taxonomy to select your verb: simulation is higher level ⇨apply, demonstrate, implement, perform, respond, identify, prioritize, manage, initiate (Bambini, 2016).
SKILLS
If clinical knowledge based, make a list of the skills students should demonstrate (Davis et al., 2021).
Effective teamwork and communication are inherent to SERs and real-world application, so it is appropriate to include team-based skills (Davis et al., 2021).
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
BUILDING THE NARRATIVE
THE NARRATIVE
STORYLINE
Provides a consistent, immersive narrative for the activity that is directly related to your clinical theme (Davis et al., 2021).
TEMPLATE
Use a template or storyboard to include: pre-brief introduction, phases and triggers… (Harrington & Simon, 2021)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Transition of activities keeps the students moving forward and focused on their learning objectives (Baily, 2021).
FLOW
The narrative should have distinctive phases: beginning, middle, and end (Bambini, 2016).
FLOW BAMBINI, 2016
BEGINNING PHASE
Sets the scene, describes what the students find as they begin the scenario. Can include history of present illness, bedside report, and physical environment.
MIDDLE PHASE
Change in the beginning phase. Can include change in patient status, environment, or discovery of key piece of information.
ENDING PHASE
Requires a variety of actions that a learner performs and knowing how the situation would change based on those actions. Describes the ending scene.
CONSIDERATIONS
IMPROVISED ACTIONS
Consider how alternate or improvised actions may affect the goal of the escape room and if students can properly recover from “wrong” actions.
ENDING
Like actions, having alternate endings could affect your goal.
You should have one end goal for your SER depending on how you want your students to “escape.”
CREATING THE BLUEPRINT
NARRATIVE VS. BLUEPRINT
In this presentation, the narrative is defined as the scenario or storyline that progresses through phases and actions.
The blueprint will be how the “escape room” element fits in. It incorporates clues, riddles, or puzzles that come with, follow, or precede the actions in the narrative that lead to the “escape.”
CHOOSE A THEME
“ESCAPE” THEME
GOAL
DIFFICULTY
ADDITIONAL TIPS DAVIS ET AL., 2021
Incorporate the use of puzzles with a defined task.
If learners do something, they might find a clue.
Tasks should align with learning objectives.
Each puzzle should only be used once and then retired.
Participants should have to solve every puzzle to escape.
Easier to design tasks so that they cannot be completed out of order.
TYPES OF PUZZLES
COMBINATION LOCKS
BLACKLIGHT & INK
PADLOCKS
HIDDEN CODES
RIDDLES
JIGSAW PUZZLE PIECES
ANAGRAMS
HIDDEN OBJECTS
PUZZLES TO AVOID
TRIVIA
While tasks should relate to concepts that have already been introduced, trivia questions can easily confuse or disengage learners.
MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS
Again, tasks and puzzles should have one solution.
ARITHMETIC
Depending on overall context, math problems can be trivial and not related to the learning objectives.
FINICKY TECHNOLOGY
Learners should be able to solve puzzles when done properly. Technology that does not produce same results can frustrate learners.
DEBRIEF
LET’S PLAY
CONSIDERATIONS & LIMITATIONS
Focus is more on “short-term” results like motivation and enjoyment.
Need more longitudinal studies.
Research on outcomes is still preliminary
Group size, context, time, game master influence, rules…
Design
Running an escape room for students is intense.
Planning, development, revision
Ability to properly and adequately assess learners’ competence before, during, and after escape room needs to be considered.
Evaluation
FINAL THOUGHTS
STEPHANIE MARCINCAVAGE�SRBUCHAL@GMAIL.COM��LIZ SANTAMARIA�PRYBYSE386@MACOMB.EDU�
REFERENCES