Playful learning experience such as the emerging educational version of escape rooms give teachers new opportunities in digital and game based learning, for example in teaching 21st century skills....Show morePlayful learning experience such as the emerging educational version of escape rooms give teachers new opportunities in digital and game based learning, for example in teaching 21st century skills. Based on flow theory it is expected that learners can experience increased levels of skill and challenge (flow) and plenty of immersion and engagement in an educational escape room. Here we examined the best predictor and potential mediatiors of the psychological constructs skill, challenge, immersion and engagement in the relationship with perceived learning. Another goal in this research was exploring the potential individual differences in the experience of flow like age, gender, media experience, cognitive development and collaboration. For the purpose of our last goal, an extensive qualitative research was carried out to examine the group of learners who didn’t experienced flow while playing. The research also provides insight into positive points and improvements for escape room design in the future. Five school classes with students between 10-13 years (N=141) have played the educational escape room of the Bibliotheek Eemland for an hour. Through puzzles and mysteries, the students followed a storyline about a missing vlogger. Learning objectives were various 21st century skills such as social media understanding and programming. Data has been obtained with a self-report questionnaire and additional information from the teacher. It turned out that skill and challenge where the best predictor of the perceived learning. Interesting, because based on the theory, skill and challenge are used to express the degree of flow experiences. Collaboration turned out to be positive related to the flow experience. Most of the students experienced flow and high levels of immersion and engagement while playing the educational escape room, regardless of their personal characteristics. But indications are found for ‘a lot of previous experience with escape rooms’, which may be related to not experiencing flow.Show less
