Escape rooms technology as a way of teaching mathematics to secondary school students

The aim of this study is to determine whether Escape Rooms can be used as an active methodological approach for the purpose of teaching mathematics. The research adapted a quantitative approach via an experimental design. Two different study groups were established, the first of which comprised the control group who were taught using conventional training methods, and the second consisted of the experimental group, who were taught using a novel approach incorporating an Escape Room activity. The participants included 80 students who were all attending secondary school within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The findings revealed how the activity involving the Escape Room led to a significant enhancement in the student’s motivation, achievement and autonomy. The conclusion can be drawn that using an Escape Room in mathematics teaching can enhance learning achievement, anxiety, motivation and autonomy, with students’ negative attitudes regarding mathematics learning considered as an important variable, particularly with respect to autonomy and motivation. Hence, Escape Rooms can potentially be more effective than conventional methods for teaching mathematics.