Effects of escape room game-based civics education on junior high school students' learning motivation, critical thinking and flow experience

The escape room game is an example of digital game-based learning that has become a popular learning tool in recent years. However, not enough is known about enthusiasm for and promising reports of the use of escape rooms in education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of escape room game-based civics education on eighth grade students' learning motivation, critical thinking and flow experience. To explore the effects, a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest with a control group design method was employed. The participants were 76 eighth grade students. The subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group, which used an escape room game, and the control group which used the Google classroom digital platform. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups in favour of the experimental group in terms of learning motivation. There was a significant difference between the two groups' critical thinking in favour of the experimental group for the ‘assumption’ and ‘interpretation’ subscales of the critical thinking test. Regarding flow experience, the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group. Finally, based on the research results, suggestions are made for the future use of escape room games for teaching and for future research.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Escape room games have substantial potential for enhancing learning, motivation and critical thinking.
• Studies promoting mental flow, integrating complex skills and using multiple strategies in a game context are limited.

What this paper adds

• Students' mind flow experience and critical thinking were enhanced through escape room games.
• The escape room game made the learning process more varied, triggered students' interest, and improved their learning motivation.
• This study compared the effect of escape room game-based learning with the Google Classroom platform, not the traditional teaching approach.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Escape room games offer learners innovative opportunities to develop critical thinking skills.
• Using an appropriately designed escape room as a game-based learning environment is an effective and motivating game-based learning approach.
• The realistic and interactive nature of escape room games is an important factor that influences learners' mind-flow experiences.