The Great Garbage Patch: The Bionauts' Challenge: An Educational Escape Room on Marine Plastic Pollution and on Possible Solutions

This case study describes "The Great Garbage Patch: The Bionauts' Challenge," an educational escape room designed to teach STEM concepts and environmental awareness about marine plastic pollution and the potential of plastic-degrading bacteria in ocean cleanup. Set in a replica biology laboratory aboard a fictional oceanographic vessel, the game asks small groups to solve interconnected puzzles within a 20-minute storyline, combining physical exploration of real scientific instruments with a digital interface that unlocks explanatory video content. The experience was first presented at Maker Faire Rome 2024, an event drawing approximately 45,000 visitors, and a tabletop version was later developed to reach additional audiences.

The paper situates the escape room within broader research on game-based and informal science learning, noting that escape rooms can support motivation, knowledge retention, and transversal skills such as teamwork. It also acknowledges the drawbacks of the approach, including high design costs, the risk that narrative may overshadow educational content, and difficulties in measuring learning outcomes. Marine plastic pollution is framed as a serious threat, with an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic entering the oceans annually, and biological degradation of plastics such as PET is presented as a promising but still experimental mitigation strategy.

Impact was assessed through an optional anonymous questionnaire completed once per group, yielding 30 responses representing 162 participants out of 450 total visitors over three days. Participants were predominantly students and families, with ages ranging from 5 to 63. Ratings were high across enjoyment (4.7/5), perceived educational value (4.3/5), and time sufficiency (4.9/5), while puzzle difficulty was judged adequate (3.1/5). The authors stress that these results are indicative only, given self-selection bias, group-based responses, and the lack of controlled comparison.