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Game-Based Learning: Clue in the Classroom: Home

Game-Based Learning: “Clue” In The Classroom – Escape Room

Amanda Blankenship, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Donald Egan, Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Optometry

THIS TOOLKIT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO

 

This toolkit will provide creative tools for the educator to connect with and educate students, different from the traditional classroom setting, while utilizing multiple teaching modalities to increase student attention and retention.

KEY OBJECTIVES

  • Describe game-based learning 
  • Provide examples of game-based learning
  • Discuss the value of game-based learning versus the traditional classroom
  • Describe the components of game-based learning and how they may be applied 
  • Predict potential problems with the design and implementation of game-based learning

HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS TOOLKIT 

Simplified step by step instructions of description below.

  • Identify objectives
  • Develop case studies and case questions surrounding objectives
  • Design a game around the case studies reinforcing key learning objectives
  • Obtain props for the game
  • Set up the game and do a practice run, identifying potential pitfalls and adjusting, if needed
  • Game implementation
  • Review important concepts covered within the game

DESCRIPTION

The attention span of an average human is stated to be approximately that of a goldfish. 

Most graduate level lecture presentations are ~ 50 minutes and contain a kaleidoscope of information, which can be difficult for students to process within a pressed amount of time.

For example, a lecture in pharmacology may include numerous drugs with differing uses, mechanisms of action, side effects, drug names, and contraindications.

By design, game-based learning (GBL) meets multiple learning modalities and objectives to motivate students and improve retention. By using GBL in graduate level pedagogy, the Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO) modified and used versions of Jeopardy, Escape Rooms, and Clue.

This toolkit describes the specific format for GBL used in OPT 728 Optometry Review I course and KYCO’s GBL data, supporting this type of teaching innovation and corroborating data from other studies.

GAME-BASED LEARNING

Game-based learning (GBL) is a form of supplementary learning with potential to enhance retention. It provides a platform for teaching specific learning outcomes and may be used at every level of learning in multiple disciplines. 

  • In 2010, a study done by the University of Colorado found that individuals trained on video games do their jobs better, have higher skills, and retain information longer than workers learning in less interactive, more passive environments. (1)
  • In 2019, an article in “Nurse Education Today” reported the impact on learning using an escape room via a survey. The conclusion was that the GBL exercise stimulated learning, was motivating, and was fun. (2)
  • In 2020, an Interprofessional Ethics training course implemented two gaming strategies. They were a “murder mystery” and a branching decision-based game. The article found that the GBL teaching approach was effective and well received. (3) 

To create a game-based learning format, the educator should perform the following strategy and set up, as exemplified by KYCO’s OPT 728 game-based learning activity:

  1. Develop escape room objectives that correlate with lecture objectives
  • This provides reinforcement of key concepts using different modalities. 
  • An example: Describe the generic name of drugs, mechanisms of action, uses, drug interactions, box warnings, and purpose for varying routes of administration.
  1. Per class attendance, divide the class into groups containing no more than 8 students.
  • Studies have shown that having more than 8 students per group may not yield an environment for maximum efficacy.
  1. Create multifaceted case studies and case study questions to meet objectives.
  1. Create the game design (see design for the OPT 728 Escape Room below).
  2. Obtaining props 
    • Locks were purchased on-line and cheap.
    • Props for the escape room photo booth were purchased at a local 5$ and below shop and signs were made with clip art and a printer.
    • An optional fake door using plywood can be made with Lock 2 affixed to it, securing the door to represent escaping the classroom.
  3. Practice run and set up:
  • Do a practice run to discover and correct for potential game design flaws.
  • Make time before class to get everything set up for your students and the activity.

Basic Design for the OPT 728 Escape Room:

  • The room from which the students were challenged to escape was the classroom.
  • Time allotted for the Escape Room was 30 minutes.
  • The class duration was 50 minutes, so this gave time after the game for the winners to celebrate and for a review of the cases to provide fortification of concepts.
    • Game rules were explained at the beginning of class.
      • Another option: Record instructions and post them for students to review before class to save classroom time.
    • The group which escaped the classroom first was deemed the winners of the OPT 738 Escape Room.
    • The winning group was given an opportunity to take pics together in an escape room type photo booth before reviewing the cases.
      • Using props and decorations, I created a photo booth for the after-game winner pics to add to the fun and by-in.

Design Details:

  • Lock 1 was securing the lid of a shoe box to keep it closed.
    • Case B was inside the locked shoe box.
    • Each group table had a shoe box sitting on it, Lock 1 locking the box’s lid closed, and copies of Case B inside the locked shoe box.
  • If a group answered Case A’s questions correctly, those answers provided the code to unlock Lock 1, which opened the shoe box to reveal the next case (Case B) to the students.
  • Lock 2 corresponded with Case B and was marked for Case B.
  • Lock 2 was in the middle of the room, accessible to all teams on a “first come first serve” basis
  • The first team to correctly answer Case B’s questions; thereby getting to and successfully unlocking Lock 2, would escape the classroom and win the game.

Case Study Details:

Case A had 3 multiple choice questions.

  • Each multiple-choice option had a typed “potentially correct” lock digit code number next to it in parentheses. 
  • Each correct multiple-choice answer provided one correct lock digit code. 
  • The code sequence that unlocked the lock was in the same order as the multiple-choice questions.
    • For example: Correct answers for Case A question numbers 1, 2, and 3 were c, d, and e; respectively. Next to the answers for c, d, and e were the numbers (3), (8), and (5). “385” was the correct 3-digit code needed to unlock Lock 1, using the code from left to right starting from the locking end of the lock. 
  • If students picked a wrong answer for a question, giving them an incorrect lock digit code sequence, their code would not work to unlock Lock 1.
  • If the above bullet happened, students returned to their group’s table, troubleshot which question digit code was incorrect, and, then, re-tried their new code for Lock 1 on the shoe box.
  • If students derived the correct code, they opened the locked shoe box to reveal Case B and move on to the next part of the game.

Case B had 2 multiple choice questions and 1 discussion question.

  • The multiple-choice questions were set up the same as for Case A.
  • The discussion question was to be answered last to obtain the last digit code for Lock 2.
  • For the discussion question, student groups had to bring their, written out on paper, discussion question answer to the professor. If the discussion question was correct, the professor provided the last digit for the code that could potentially unlock Lock 2 and crown that team the winner.
  • Again, if the code did not work, students returned to their table, troubleshot where they went wrong, and found the correct answer and code for Lock 2. Hopefully, another group did not get to Lock 2 and open it before the group represented above could ascertain where they went wrong.
  • The first group that obtained the correct code to unlock Lock 2, escaped the room and won the game. 
REFLECTION

Per the data, overall, students felt that the GBL exercise met varying learning styles and improved retention. Added support for GBL was that, even though the difference between midterm and final exam scores were not statistically significant, the final exam grades were higher.  Plus, students appeared to enjoy this learning technique.

Many students commented that the GBL activity was a “nice change of pace” and “helped them to know where they were in their studying better than the traditional case study or lecture review”. Since this GBL activity, I have done a few things differently. I have added a scavenger hunt and am more conscientious about providing enough copies of cases and materials for each person within the groups. Those two things have added more excitement and improved group participation.

Per this data and my game-based learning experience, GBL appears to be a valuable teaching tool, as an innovative and “fun” component, added to complement current didactic pedagogy. 

CONNECTED RESOURCES TO EXPLORE

  1. Ward, Rebecca. “Business School Professor’s Study Finds Video Games Highly Effective Training Tool”. University of Colorado Denver the Denver, Business School Newsroom, 20-11-2010, https://business-news.ucdenver.edu/2010/10/20/business-school-professors-study-finds-video-games-highly-effective-training-tool/
  2. Gomez-Urquiza, Jose L., “The Impact on Nursing Students’ Opinions and Motivation of Using a “Nursing Escape Room” as a Teaching Game: A Descriptive Study. Science Direct, Nurse Education Today, Volume 72, pp 73-76, 1/2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691718309146
  3. Maynor, Lena M.., “Emergency in Ethics: An Innovative Approach to Game-Based Active Learning in Interprofessional Ethics Training”. Science Direct, Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, Volume 26, 3-2022, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405452621000756