Chemistry knowledge is often assessed through written exams, but much of students’ thinking remains invisible on paper. How do learners use what they already know? How do they talk to one another, divide the work, cope with uncertainty, and decide which idea might move them forward? To explore these questions, we designed and studied a chemistry-based escape room: an immersive learning environment in which participants solve a sequence of chemistry puzzles while working collaboratively under time pressure. The puzzles require chemical knowledge, but they also reveal problem-solving strategies, communication, teamwork, and the moments when students connect prior knowledge to a new situation.
The escape room became more than a game. It served as a window into learning. Students reported that the activity was enjoyable, motivating, and challenging, and that it encouraged them to use chemistry knowledge together with collaboration, communication, and higher-order thinking skills. For teachers, observing students in this environment opened new opportunities for formative assessment: instead of seeing only a final answer, teachers could notice how students reasoned, what chemistry ideas they relied on, where they struggled, and how they worked as a team.
Contribution
This research shows that a chemistry escape room can support both experiential learning and meaningful assessment. It helps learners engage with chemistry through curiosity, action, dialogue, and problem solving, while giving teachers and researchers access to skills that are difficult to measure through traditional exams. By turning assessment into an observable, collaborative, and dynamic process, the escape room helps us ask a broader question: not only what students know, but how they think.
Links to the articles:
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00110
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022-09986-9
https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2024.572216
Authors: Dr. Abir Saleh, Dr. Gabriella Shwartz, Yoram Zemel, Prof. Shirly Avargil
Research group’s website: https://avargilchemistryeducation.technion.ac.il/
