View Content #27721

By Dr. Linda Forrest, Director of Research, CASLS

The past decade has shown incredible growth for game technologies in educational settings. Studies show that games can challenge and motivate learners to use language in meaningful, productive ways. Game-based approaches to learning develop social skills, improve deep knowledge, and provide better outcomes for learners (see Reinhardt, 2019 and Sykes and Reinhardt, 2012 for overviews of this research). Recently, the growing popularity of escape rooms, “live-action team-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal (usually escaping from the room)”(1) has sparked ideas for a new type of educational intervention which we call complex learning scenarios (CLSs). Over the next few weeks, we will explore this topic and explain how CLSs can be created and integrated into your classroom.

What is an escape room like? Imagine that you and your team enter a room and are immediately transported in place and time. Behind you, the door shuts and locks (metaphorically, of course). You have one hour to find another way out. Surrounding you are objects that are both familiar and unfamiliar. A vase has a letter written on the bottom, a picture on the wall shows flags of several nations followed by mysterious numbers, an old-fashioned telephone emits beeps that sound oddly like Morse code. Access to drawers, cupboards, and trunks is blocked by locks requiring keys or codes, no of which you have. At first, you are confused and a bit overwhelmed, but as you and your team members explore the room and share what you find, you begin to see patterns and discover clues that reveal the lock codes. Oh, and if your team becomes completely stuck, you can get an occasional hint from the room operator.

The downside to escape rooms is the time and expense needed to create them. Enter breakout boxes. Instead of breaking out of a room, your goal is to break into a box festooned by multiple locks. You are given a portfolio of papers and objects, which provides a narrative, clues, and puzzles. As in an escape room, you initially feel overwhelmed, but by exploring the materials, applying your background knowledge, and discussing the problems with team members, the locks are finally opened and the rewards within revealed.

As you read the descriptions of the escape room and breakout box experiences, did you notice all the opportunities for language learners to engage in complex discourse and develop social skills through interactions with their team? Did you wonder how to create this type of experience for your own students? Stay tuned to coming Intercom Topics of the Week.

(1) Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities. White paper available at http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf.

Reinhardt, J. (2019). Gameful Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan.

Sykes, J. & Reinhardt, J. (2012). Language at Play: Digital Games in Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Series on Theory and Practice. In Second Language Classroom Instruction, J. Liskin-Gasparro & M. Lacorte, series (Eds.). Pearson-Prentice Hall.