163 - House’s Histology Escape Room

Poster Board Number: 163
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Audra Schaefer, Ph.D. - University of Mississippi Medical Center

Abstract Body : Gamification is a teaching methodology that utilizes game-based learning to motivate students and stimulate more interest in the learning environment. Incorporating game-based mechanisms typically includes providing a set of rules for students to follow and some sort of incentive upon achieving the objective. Escape rooms are one type of game-based learning that have been increasingly reported as being used within higher education and particularly in health-related fields such as nursing and medicine. Escape rooms include an overarching storyline that provides context and the question to be answered to escape. At the start of the activity, participants often feel they have little to no direction. It is through interacting with the environment and searching for clues that participants find puzzles to be solved. To succeed, participants must break out of the room before their time runs out. A histology escape room activity was designed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, for a small portion of the incoming medical class (approximately 35 of 170) in the Pre-matriculation Program. This program takes place during the summer immediately preceding the students’ entrance into medical school. The students encounter introductory coursework they will experience during their first semester, such as histology, gross anatomy, and biochemistry. During the summer of 2022, an escape room was designed and implemented as a review for their histology course. A fictional storyline was created based on the popular TV show House. Various learning activities were implemented to promote retrieval of histology content as well as collaboration among the students. Anecdotally, students found the activity enjoyable, and it was implemented again during the summer of 2023. Creation and implementation of an in-person escape room requires detailed planning as well as some monetary considerations. This project provides an outline for designing an escape room and a framework other educators can utilize to implement a similar activity in their courses.