The Thalidomide Mystery: A Digital Escape Room Using Genially and WhatsApp for High School Students

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a digital escape room for high school students using Genially, a web-based media platform. The escape room was used to aid understanding of basic concepts in chemistry and mostly enhance students’ classes participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The activity entitled “The thalidomide mystery” covered the concepts of chemical bonding, pH, acid and base, and laboratory glassware. The narrative of the game revolves around the drug named thalidomide; this drug was developed in the 1960s and its use caused several cases of phocomelia. WhatsApp chat groups were formed to stimulate an active engagement of the participants and maintain a collaborative and cooperative learning experience among them. Students were required to solve four chemistry puzzles to obtain the final password to reach the end of the game. The results obtained showed that the game was very useful for students mainly because it presented an innovative way of teaching chemistry, different from the traditional way in which the students are usually taught in their classrooms. The game helped the students to review the contents covered and was able to stimulate the active participation of both the students who like to study chemistry and those who do not.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Escape a Remote Virtual Stereochemistry Lab Together

“…Many educational escape rooms have a theme or a backstory to create an immersive experience that puts players in a specific role with a meaningful purpose . Escape room themes in this Journal involved solving a crime or a mystery ,,,,, and saving the world. ,, In this stereochemistry escape room activity, the final puzzle was based loosely on the story of Snow White: the princess that suffered from a “sleeping sickness” after taking a bite of a poisoned apple (Figure ). The Snow White theme assumed a central role in connecting all four tasks to the game mission with a medical context: finding a cure for “sleeping sickness”.…”

“…Right now, conducting an online laboratory seems to be the only viable option for educational delivery while maintaining social distancing and, thus, has prompted the development of remote and online laboratory sessions. Several approaches have been reported, for example, stay-at-home laboratories, , free and commercial virtual laboratory simulations, open educational resources-based virtual chemistry lab space, and educational escape rooms in chemistry. − …”

“…Educational escape rooms have attracted growing interest in many programs, including education, healthcare, and sciences. , In essence, an educational escape room is an active learning, team-based pedagogy that fosters teamwork in solving puzzles and challenges to accomplish a common goal (escape the room) within a specified time. − Recent research has shown that educational games such as escape rooms have the potential to not only serve as a review and reinforcement activity for didactic content ,, but also provide students with conducive environments for cooperative and collaborative learning. ,, Due to the competitive nature of escape rooms and the added pressure of time limits, the proverb “two heads are better than one” rings true here, that is, collaborative problem-solving benefits students more than working alone to ensure a successful game progression and completion within the time limit. Therefore, this type of activity keeps students on tasks, keeps them engaged and motivated on the topic of interest, and strengthens team communication and critical thinking skills. , …”

“…Despite its potential pedagogical use in learning stereochemistry, the high cost associated with the development of resource-intensive technology for escape rooms may be prohibitive for many educators. In addition, most studies in this Journal reported the use of only 1–2 online platforms for digital escape rooms, e.g., Google Forms, ,, Metaverse, and Genially with Whatsapp; therefore, they were limited in providing a shared virtual lab space that supports instructor–student and student–student interactions for discussions and reflection during a remote stereochemistry practical.…”

“…Therefore, this type of activity keeps students on tasks, keeps them engaged and motivated on the topic of interest, and strengthens team communication and critical thinking skills. 10,22 Stereochemistry concerns the study of the spatial arrangements of atoms in a molecule. Having the ability to visualize and interpret the three-dimensional (3D) structure of a molecule leads to a greater understanding of its physical and chemical properties and interactions with biological systems such as enzymes and receptors.…”