Educational Escape Rooms as a Tool for Horizontal Mathematization: Learning Process Evidence

Abstract

The curricular perspective based on teaching processes which takes formal mathematical knowledge as a starting point has been severely criticized. This traditional perspective considers that the formal mathematical knowledge has to be taught prior to the application so, once taught, it can be used to solve problems. Along with this criticism, curricular alternative proposals that have focused attention on the learning process (rather than in the teaching one) have been developed. Recently, game-based learning has been developed as a problem-based learning methodology, able to achieve a deeper implication of the students. In line with this approach, the main scope of this paper is to provide evidence of the learning process in game-based learning environments. To do this, student teachers have designed an educational escape room that fits curricular learning outcomes. This manuscript reports on an educational escape room experience that was implemented in three different Primary Education Schools (total student population of 117 students, while here we present a fragment of 5 participants). In order to evaluate the development of certain knowledge, a transcribed fragment is presented and analyzed. In the reported experience, evidence of learning processes and horizontal mathematization are reported in the frame of an educational escape room. This constitutes an evidence of learning processes in gamified environments.

Digital Escape Rooms as Innovative Pedagogical Tools in Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…In the introduction, players are introduced to ER rules, the materials, the gaming tools, and less often, the learning goals. Tutors take on a supervising and game master role to aid in providing clear instructions before the game starts, a finding which is consistent with other studies [10,52,104]. During the gameplay, instructors take on roles related to monitoring, moderating, guiding, facilitating, providing hints, encouraging participants, and debriefing.…”

“…In today's educational landscape, ER scenarios are promising trends and can be integrated into many academic disciplines, such as healthcare [7][8][9], STEM subjects [10], computer science [11], chemical engineering [12], pharmacy [13], physics [14], mathematics [15], radiology [16], biology [17] and many others. The protagonists of EERs are usually secondary or higher education students, tutors, professionals, designers, and researchers.…”

Formative Potential of the Development and Assessment of an Educational Escape Room Designed to Integrate Music-Mathematical Knowledge

“…We have already demonstrated the potential of EERs to promote knowledge [27], by designing the experience of a problem-based game and emphasizing the equivalent game-problem [28,29]. In this regard, the literature reports that problem-based learning approaches may help mitigate the different mathematics performances evidenced in PISA reports [30].…”

“…The previously described situation sets the point to establish specific criteria for defining "what an educational escape room is". In this regard, design criteria were established by the authors as presented in [27], so that students can apply such criteria when designing their proposals. Design criteria can be summarized as follows:…”

“…She had the opportunity to implement a team-designed EER during the first year of cooperation (prior to the 2020 pandemic situation). CS#4 had completed her conventional didactic-mathematic formation available in the "primary education degree", so she was familiar with the design criteria, [27] as well as the didactic situations theory [35]. Her goal was to establish connections among the mathematic and musical knowledge in the frame of an EER, so that the narrative and tasks contained concepts, procedures, strategies, and skills from both disciplines.…”