The Team Science & Education of the German Young Chemists Network (JCF) has developed a lab-based chemistry escape game ChemEscape for high school students to encourage a fascination for chemistry. The escape game is suitable for students from the age of 15 and is available free of charge in German, English, and other common European languages.
Inspiring High School Students To Explore Science
Do you sometimes think back to your chemistry lessons? Were you allowed to perform experiments by yourself? Or was there less self-applied science than you wished for? Many of the team members in the JCF Team Science & Education had this experience and decided to develop a chemistry escape room for students to get them interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Escape rooms have become more popular in recent years and are available for different subjects and topics. However, a flexible kit for chemistry at a high school level has not been available until now. Our chemistry escape room ChemEscape fills this gap. Teachers receive the necessary materials for six different experiments in a reusable kit by mail free of charge. The experiments demonstrate the diversity of chemistry. Teachers hardly need any additional material of their own and can incorporate the game into a ninety-minute lesson. All instructions and accompanying material are available on the ChemEscape interactive website.
With the help of ChemEscape, we want to make high school students more enthusiastic about chemistry and other STEM subjects since the number of first-year students in chemistry-related subjects has decreased in recent years [1,2].
Figure 1. Students solving the aroma memory puzzle (photo © Monja Schilling).
The Escape Room
So, the JCF Team Science & Education came up with the idea of developing a chemistry escape game that not only introduces students to chemistry but also supports and inspires them in their choice of studies and career paths for the natural sciences in general and chemistry in particular. The chance to perform experiments independently in small groups and subsequently solve puzzles allows high school students insights into working in a laboratory environment. Additionally, the relevance of practical lab courses when studying chemistry is shown to the students – including the challenges associated with them.
Different members of the team devised different experiments that had a connection to their own work in the laboratory and thus reflect different research fields in chemistry. One experiment is based on a lemon battery, an experiment which highlights the basic concepts of a battery, the galvanic series, and electrical circuits. The team member who developed the experiment is doing her doctorate studies in the field of battery research and is facing such topics daily.
However, the whole team ensured that the experiments they developed could be carried out at school, and all the experiments were embedded in a story to create interest and build up excitement from the beginning.
The reusable and location-independent escape room game allows high school students to perform experiments by themselves during regular school lessons. At the same time, the students can apply and deepen their chemistry knowledge in a fun way.
If required, the teacher can adapt the content of the ChemEscape game to the respective group, for example, by allowing students to research and present specific topics covered by ChemEscape. Alternatively, the teacher can use only parts of the materials and experiments if needed.
Figure 2. ChemEscape kit with materials (photo © Mehmet Ali Inal).
Easy for Teachers
To minimize preparation time for the teachers, a kit with the materials required to play ChemEscape is sent to the schools by mail. Only the chemicals themselves must be provided by the schools since shipping chemicals requires safety measures that cannot be fulfilled by the voluntary team sending out the kits.
Before starting the game, teachers have to prepare diluted solutions of acids, bases, and metal salts, which are commonly available in schools. The instructions for this step are also included in the kit. The experimental instructions and information texts for students and teachers are freely accessible on our website [1].
Solutions and hints for the experiments and additional information about the scientific concepts are also available on our website. However, to avoid curious students accessing these documents, they are password protected (send us a message to [email protected] to receive the password free of charge). All instructions and texts can also be downloaded and printed to make sure that the game can also be played without access to the Internet.
All puzzles can be solved independently and require practical work in the lab. To complete the ChemEscape game, students have to solve six puzzles that are embedded in a background story. For each experiment, a part of the solution code is then determined, which is entered on the website at the end to open a virtual lock.
The six hands-on tasks are: the lemon battery, trace detection using fluorescence, a pH experiment, dilution series, precipitation reactions, and smell-based elementary analysis.
Figure 3. Preparing to ship the ChemEscape kits (photo © Monja Schilling).
Uptake
The teachers and students who have played the ChemEscape game in Germany were asked to fill in a survey after participating in the game. Currently, the JCF Team Science & Education is working on a detailed publication about the survey results. Here, we want to share the major insights.
The majority of students were able to actively participate in the escape room and use their own prior knowledge. The concept and instructions were perceived by over 85% as well organized and understandable. The difficulty of the experiments was rated as appropriate by almost 90% of the teachers. Over 90% of the students would like to play an escape room in class again.
The German school system is very diverse with several types of schools, and ChemEscape can be used in different grades. Nevertheless, all the students had a lot of fun solving the puzzles and were able to successfully solve the ChemEscape as a team.
Have We Piqued Your Curiosity?
Are you interested in our ChemEscape to get your students excited about chemistry? Check out our website or message us to receive the password to the protected materials on our website. Teachers or educational staff located in Germany or Austria can order one ChemEscape kit per school free of cost by using the form on our website [1]. Since all the team’s work is done on a voluntary basis and because of limited funds, kits can currently only be shipped within these countries.
References
[1] ChemEscape website: jcf.io/chemescape
[2] Statistik der Chemiestudiengänge 2021, Nachr. Chem. 2022, 70(7|8), 8-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/nadc.20224129535
