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Science-Based Educational Escape Games: A Game Design Methodology

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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.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Research in Science Education (2024) 54:299–313
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-023-10143-4
1 3
Science‑Based Educational Escape Games: AGame Design
Methodology
TalYachin1· MiriBarak1,2
Accepted: 5 November 2023 / Published online: 21 November 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023
Abstract
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 pro-
cesses. 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-struc-
tured 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 methodol-
ogy, 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.
Keywords Escape games· Game design· Science education· Science teachers· Situated
learning
Introduction
In recent years, the use of games as a pedagogical method has gained traction, allow-
ing students to practice skills that traditional teaching may not offer (Avargil etal., 2021;
Barak,2017; Peleg etal., 2019). Such skills include creativity, critical thinking, commu-
nication, collaboration, and group decision-making, which are important for twenty-first
century education (Barak, 2017; Gee, 2008; Klopfer et al., 2018). Educational games or
* Miri Barak
bmiriam@technion.ac.il
Tal Yachin
tal.yachin@campus.technion.ac.il
1 Faculty ofEducation inScience andTechnology, Technion - Israel Institute ofTechnology,
320003Haifa, Israel
2 Department ofEducation, University ofOxford, Oxford, UK
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