Future Teachers' Perceptions of Different Educational Escape Room Designs

This qualitative case study examines how pre-service mathematics, physics, and informatics teachers at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, perceive four educational escape room formats: story-based digital rooms built in Google Forms, interactive adventure digital rooms built with Room Escape Maker, a fully immersive physical room, and a box-based physical escape room. Data came from 14 first-year bachelor's students enrolled in an elective course on game-based teaching, gathered through observation, interviews, and three questionnaires, then analyzed via content analysis in MaxQDA.

Participants found digital escape rooms positively evaluated for their independence from location, time, and group size, and they valued the opportunity to create their own. Physical rooms were personally preferred for their realism, hands-on interaction with real objects, collaborative demands, and cohesive themes and puzzles. When asked which format suited classroom use, however, most chose the digital option because of its lower logistical burden with large classes, though many said physical formats would be ideal if implementation were easier.

The box-based format emerged as a promising compromise, offering tangible engagement while remaining manageable in schools. Several students proposed combining digital and physical approaches, using digital tasks for mathematics and physical boxes for science. The authors note the small sample limits generalizability and frame the findings as informing a teacher training workshop within the EcoMystery Erasmus+ project on climate-themed escape rooms.