ChemEscape: Redox and thermodynamics─puzzling out key concepts in general chemistry

Gamification of learning in chemistry education is a growing field. Chemistry themed escape room activities, incorporating course learning objectives into puzzle solution, have become a popular tool allowing for students to apply course knowledge in novel settings. Escape room activities, like their public counterparts, provide subtle guidance to students through the introduction of clues and hints within the game. However, many students are met with mild frustration at the lack of direct questioning leading to time-restraints in puzzle solution. Here, we introduce a new series of ChemEscape Battle Box puzzles focusing on chemical equilibria, redox chemistry, and thermodynamics. By incorporating guiding, exam-style questioning into the puzzle we found students were more readily able to solve the puzzles within and related them back to course learning objectives.