Investigating Educational Escape Room Games in Mathematics: Effects on Achievement and Perceptions

A quasi-experimental study examined whether an educational escape room improves sixth-grade mathematics achievement and how students perceive learning through this format. Thirty-seven students from a single private school in Istanbul were divided into an experimental group of 19 and a control group of 18, with the experimental group completing two lockbox-style escape room games on Sets and Integers over four weeks (eight instructional hours), while the control group received traditional instruction on the same content. Two games were designed using the ADDIE instructional design model and aligned with Grade 6 curriculum outcomes, with the second game refined based on feedback from the first.

The experimental group showed a statistically significant advantage on the post-test over the control group (p = 0.006), with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.97), and the mean gain of the experimental group was roughly twice that of the control group. Baseline equivalence between groups was confirmed through pre-test comparison. Qualitative interviews with six purposively selected participants produced five themes, and students consistently described the format as engaging and novel, reported a lively collaborative atmosphere, valued competitive elements such as medal cards, and believed the activities helped them recall mathematical content.

The study notes several important limitations. The sample was small and drawn from one school, the two groups were taught by different teachers, and the claims about long-term retention rest on self-reported perceptions rather than delayed testing. The authors therefore present their results as preliminary, while arguing that the lockbox format and documented design workflow offer a low-cost, technology-independent model that practitioners can adapt for other topics and age groups.