The last PISA results (2015) show that that more than one out of five youngsters in Europe are low achievers in science and in maths, which means that they are not equipped with basic skills necessary for numerous valuable jobs in our current economy. It is therefore essential to work on improving the level of EU pupils in STEAM. To do so, it is critical to foster the students’ engagement and motivation by offering innovative ways to present and work on STEAM within the school system. Based on their respective expertise and research, the partners are convinced that the concept of educative escape rooms/games can play a very positive role on improving education in general and the learning of STEAM in particular.
That’s why we are designing STEAMER.
OBJECTIVES:
1) to promote the acquisition of skills and key competences for secondary school students;
2) to create a methodology, tools and practical examples of escape rooms adapted for school education on STEAM, with inclusive elements for disadvantaged learners, especially the ones with Specific Learning Disorders;
3) to raise awareness on European scientific history and cultures. NEEDS: a general improvement of students’ STEAM skills and results
TARGET GROUP:
The program and the tools will be directed at the teachers and educators of secondary education in order to give them access to a new range of possibilities to teach this specific topic and potentially others.
WHAT IS IT?
Escape Rooms are defined as a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints and strategy to complete the objectives at hand. Players are given a set time limit to unveil the secret plot which is hidden within the rooms. Escape rooms are inspired by “escape-the-room”–style video games. The story of the game can be set in a variety of fictional locations, such as prison cells, dungeons and space stations, and usually the various puzzles and riddles themselves follow the theme of the room. Since the beginning of the 2010s, the escape room concept has been increasingly popular all over Europe.
Escape rooms have a great potential as an educative tool as they rely mostly on knowledge, reflection, problem solving and collaboration. In addition, they create a positive level of engagement from the players to the topic of the game. All these characteristics are extremely positive aspects in the context of school education.
However, their usage in schools is not a vastly covered topic. Some resources exist (mainly in English and in French) although they lack substance: a few bases of scenarios, some image used or basic online content but almost never more than that. This project will therefore be innovative on the topic of escape rooms.
OUTCOMES:
- 1 Pedagogical guide in 6 languages (digital) “Escape room for education“ aiming at explaining how to use it in school education and more specifically on STEAM including good practices, practical examples and integrating methods and advices on the inclusion of learners with SLD in these activities
- 1 Creation guide in 6 languages (digital) “How to create pedagogical escape rooms?”, including practical examples and advice from teachers as well as tools for all aspects of creation (including digital) and road maps for content creation and integrating methods and advices on the creation of inclusive challenges for the learners with SLD.
- 15 lessons packages integrating the lesson content and escape rooms within the lesson to show practically to the teachers how to integrate the method in their class and in addition to give them directly applicable content for their classroom. Each ER including all the materials blueprint, multimedia and the digital material to be used. In addition, each scenario will be accompanied with advice for teachers to ease the adoption by the target groups. The topics of the game will be centred on the scientific European heritage.
- 300 learners testing the material with 10 teachers directly involved.
- 1 “Escape Classroom Generator” to support the teachers in the creation of new escape rooms. The generator will provide over 400 synopsis, tools, advices, recommendations. They will be structured by period of history, scientific subject and level of secondary school to facilitate the usage by the teachers.
- 1 online training course module worth 1 ECVET point followed by 40 people by the end of the project
- 10 best practices with description of the implementation of an ER and/or its creation with pictures and data and the comments of their authors on the outcomes, the issues, the difficulties, the positive realisation, etc.
At the end of this project, the partners wish to provide the first European portal of free resources, designed and approved by professionals: teachers, researchers in education, scenario specialist and ICT professionals to implement escape rooms in schools in general and on STEAM in particular.
Website: www.steamerproject.eu
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/steamerproject
Project duration: 1st November 2019 until 31st October 2021 (24 months)
Project number: 2019-1-BE01-KA201-050527
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.