Mechanics Escape Room: Escaping the Monotony of Solving Problems
Publication: Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 150, Issue 3
Abstract
Completion of an escape room activity requires participants to work as a team to find hidden clues and solve challenging puzzles to escape before time expires. The use of escape rooms for active learning may produce a positive classroom environment by improving teamwork skills, encouraging engagement with course materials, fostering intellectual curiosity, and facilitating conceptual understanding beyond the prescribed procedure. An escape room was developed for the Mechanics of Materials course at the United States Military Academy. The escape room was designed based on a hypothetical theme to increase student motivation and curiosity. Students were required to complete five puzzles that involved navigating through underground steam tunnels to locate the boiler in the classroom building where their final examination would take place. This task was intended to force the cancellation of the examination. The five puzzles assessed the students’ knowledge of torsional members, statically indeterminate axially loaded members, flexural members, stress transformation, strain transformation, and thin-walled pressure vessels. The escape room was piloted in five sections ranging from 15 to 18 students. Teams of five to six students completed the escape room activity. The escape room increased active participation and made the students aware of the concepts they needed to focus on for the final examination. This case study includes details on the complete design of the escape room, including the problems presented, results of student teams, and student feedback.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would first like to recognize the students who participated in the escape room activity and provided feedback. The authors would also like to thank the Center for Innovation and Engineering and the Academic Research Council at the United States Military Academy for funding the educational escape room (S.0048300.3.0506). This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the United States Military Academy (CA-2023-61). The views expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the United States Military Academy, United States Department of the Army, US Department of Defense, or the US government.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 150 • Issue 3 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 Published by American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 1, 2023
Accepted: Jan 19, 2024
Published online: Apr 17, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 17, 2024
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