Science4Exit Project: Experimental Escape Games With Digital Enrichment in an Extracurricular Learning Venue

The Science4Exit project, conducted at the University of Education Weingarten in Germany, describes the design, implementation, and planned evaluation of experimental escape games enriched with digital components for use in a chemistry teaching and learning laboratory. Its central aim is to increase pupils' motivation and interest in science and STEM subjects, to help them apply school-acquired knowledge, and to foster 21st century skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The games are supervised by chemistry student teachers, who gain practical experience in teacher professionalisation, and pupils are increasingly involved as co-designers through a research working group. The document frames the work within gamification and game-based learning theory, drawing on constructivist learning principles that treat learning as an active process of exploration.

A concrete example illustrates the approach: pupils who have crash-landed on a planet must open a command centre by determining two digits through a copper-iron cementation reaction, in which differently treated stamped digits become visible or disappear. A second example uses augmented reality animation of iodine sublimation to reveal a latent fingerprint. These examples show how experimental results are required to unlock subsequent challenges, and how digital tools such as AR, explanatory videos, and platforms like Actionbound and H5P support the activities.

The document is primarily a project description rather than a completed study. Its research component proposes pre- and post-surveys using standardized questionnaires to measure learning gain, intrinsic motivation, flow, experimental self-efficacy, subject interest, and 21st century skills, analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. It notes that a literature review identified only 15 relevant publications on educational escape games in German-speaking contexts through 2021, and that existing research is largely experience-based, giving the project's planned empirical work particular significance. No outcome data are reported.