A Scavenger Hunt Activity to Welcome First-year Students to the Civil Engineering Department

Abstract

She has won several teaching awards for her passion for undergraduate and graduate education.

A Proposal for an Immersive Scavenger Hunt-Based Serious Game in Higher Education

“…Regarding the outcomes, the main goal pursued with the use of a SH is to improve knowledge of the environment. Focusing on education, two main aspects have been addressed: to improve the campus library knowledge (six works, e.g., [15]) and to familiarize students with a new academic environment and its resources (nine works, e.g., [29] and [30]). Papers not concerning the educational environment can also be found, e.g., [31] and [32].…”

“…The second most important goal addressed is to learn or promote the learning of a concrete concept or lesson (e.g., [33], [34], [35], and [36]), normally including questions related to these concepts in the SH tasks. The SH is also used as a socialization tool, usually for first year students [29], [30], [37], but also to improve collaborative skills [38], [39]. Motivation, one of the main outcomes here and, in general, of serious games in education [4], [17], has only been found in two works, but solely in [34] is it used in the same way as here, namely, to modify student attitudes in order to foster their learning, but with a different approach; in [40], the motivation is with respect to the activity not learning.…”

Welcome days: A step forward for the student community

“…Creating a campus or treasure-hunt activity is well researched, and various resources are available in the literature (Ronan, 2019). The discussion with senior students is tricky (because it is difficult to encourage new students to ask questions) but is doable.…”

A Mechanics Race! An Exam Review Activity

“…While scavenger hunts like The Amazing Race have been typically used in social icebreaker type activities, these activities are slowly becoming recognized as a tool for learning in higher education [4]. Ronan reported the successful implementation of a scavenger hunt to welcome first-year students to the civil engineering department [5], while Swenty et al went on to formally assess the application of a real-world bridge scavenger hunt to structural engineering theory [6]. There is even enough of a market that companies like goosechase offer custom pricing for developing scavenger hunts for universities and colleges as both social exercises and classroom learning experiences [7].…”