Escape Room Dual Mode Approach to Teach Maths during the COVID-19 Era

Nuria Rosillo and Nicolas Montes
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Nuria Rosillo: Department of Mathematics, Physics and Technological Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, C/San Bartolome 55, 46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Valencia, Spain
Nicolas Montes: Department of Mathematics, Physics and Technological Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, C/San Bartolome 55, 46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Valencia, Spain

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and its social implications generate adverse psychological effects that affect success in education where educational methodologies are not ready to overcome the problem. This article presents the design and evaluation of a gamification activity, the Escape Room, applied to the subjects in Pharmacy and Nursing. The objective of using the Escape Room is to reduce the impact that COVID-19 has on students’ academic performance due to the psychological effects and the change in educational modality with which the vast majority of activities are carried out online. The Escape Room presented in this article is based on the search for a scientist who is fleeing with the COVID-19 vaccine around the world and the students have to find it by passing tests and missions related to mathematics. Due to the COVID measures imposed by the university, where double presentiality was imposed, the proposed Escape Room has the peculiarity of being designed in dual format, that is, allowing students to connect in face-to-face mode, online, or a mixture of both, depending on the maximum capacity of the classroom, the number of positive cases in the group, quarantines, etc. As a result, a great impact is shown on the initial perception of students towards mathematics and a null impact of the COVID-19 effect on the academic performance of students.

Keywords: active methodologies; escape room; mathematics; higher education; COVID-19; Hyflex; game-based learning; gamification; serious game (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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