Using an Escape-Room-Themed Curriculum to Engage and Educate Generation Z Students About Entomology

A technology becomes more advanced, it is a continuous challenge to incorporate new and interesting tools to engage and educate our youth about entomology. Generation Z students are students who were born after 1995 into an Internet-connected world, and as a result, they thrive on visual learning through interactive games, challenges, and collaborative projects (Rothman 2016, Cilliers 2017). Given the importance of insects within diverse areas of study, we should provide new and unique methodologies to educate our youth about insects. Generations growing up with technology have been shown to be less interested in auditory learning, preferring more active participation to traditional passive learning (Chun et al. 2015). As a result, educators are being encouraged to incorporate alternative forms of education, such as gamification, flipped and interactive classrooms, social media, and massive open online courses into their curricula (Chun et al. 2015). Game-based pedagogy has become a novel tool in supplementing traditional education (Becker 2017), while providing a resource that can engage both advanced and disadvantaged students (Elliott 2014). In a survey of 700 K–8 teachers, 74% reported using games in the classroom (Takeuchi and Vaala 2014). However, to be successful as a teaching tool, game-based lessons should be problem-focused and provide deeper context to the educational content (Shultz Colby 2017). Although the popularity of escape rooms has increased only recently over the past 10 years, they are gradually being utilized in classrooms because they are often problem-based and can aid in communication and collaboration, especially within the STEM fields (Williams 2018). Escape rooms differ from other forms of games in that students are tasked with problem-solving within a specified amount of time, and they require the use of various puzzles and challenges, providing both suspense and reward as different activities are solved. The use of escape-room lesson plans has recently been demonstrated in various scientific disciplines, such as teaching pharmacy students about diabetes (Eukel et al. 2017), motivating learning in the computer sciences (Borrego et al. 2017), learning about library services (Wise et al. 2018), and teaching students about physics (Vörös and Sárközi 2017). I recently developed an escape-room curriculum for a high-school-aged 4-H University event. The goal of this curriculum was to interactively engage and educate students about different disciplines of entomology (including forensic, agricultural, and medical/veterinary entomology) and to teach students about the importance of entomology as a branch of science. Groups of students were tasked with solving a murder within one hour, using a variety of insects as evidence. This approach was used because it required the high school students to communicate and use teamwork to solve real-world insect-related questions. The first step in developing an escape-room curriculum was to develop a flow chart of activities that the students would have to progress through in sequence (Fig. 1). Depending on the level of difficulty, we estimated between 5 and 15 minutes per activity. As a result, we aimed for four to six specific activities for the hour. For each activity, we determined what we wanted the students to learn or accomplish, such as learning how to use a dichotomous key. For each challenge, we used a puzzle, such as a combination lock, that needed to be solved to progress to the next level. Tasks were not so easy that they could be solved by chance, because our goal was to have the students critically evaluate the materials to understand their relevance in entomology. Flow chart of entomology escape room showing progression of events. Challenges are colored blue, and the puzzle mechanism to move forward is colored red. Items in yellow indicate how the escape-room solution is completed. For our 4-H University event, we had 50 students who were divided into 10 teams of five each. Therefore, we planned on four individual activities, with the hope that most of the teams would complete the activities in the escape room between 45 and 60 minutes. At the end of 60 minutes, we planned a 10-minute debriefing of the materials, allowing students to ask questions and learn more about the different areas of entomology. Upon completion of the escape room, we used a typical outreach display of live and preserved insects to further increase student interest in entomology. All graduate-student volunteers were allowed to complete the escape room before its inception. The volunteers were provided with instructor cards detailing how to set up the necessary items before the event. Upon arriving to our 4-H University event, the 50 high school students were randomly divided into ten teams by picking a team name out of a hat. Graduate-student volunteers helped the students locate their team members, then directed them to the escape room tables (Fig. 2). After students were introduced to their team members, they were told they were going to learn about entomology using an escape-room-based activity. They were provided with the following details before the 60-minute timer was started: Initial room setup, showing the simplicity of space and materials needed for 50 students. John Sharp has been sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, Susan, who was found dead near the Mississippi River on May 30th. Police claimed that Susan was murdered on May 15th, the day before John went on a two-week business trip in Europe. In one hour, John will be executed via lethal injection. However, you suspect John was wrongly convicted. The judge has agreed to a one-hour stay of execution, in order for you to evaluate the evidence. Your evaluation of the evidence will either help exonerate him or support the verdict that he was guilty of killing his wife. Therefore, you have exactly one hour to go through the insect evidence to determine When precisely Susan died, Where she had been killed, Who killed Susan, and How exactly she died. Focus on that exact order of things, and you will get this done. In one hour, you must provide all of this information to the judge, before the lethal injection of John Sharp occurs. Your group has been given 4 tokens. You may cash in a token at any time if you need to ask for assistance along the way. But here is your first hint, start with the When. Good luck! In our first activity, related to forensic entomology, the students were provided with various types of blow fly evidence (Fig. 3). We decided to focus on two forensically important species of blow fly in Louisiana: Phormia regina (Meigen) and Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius). Students were provided with both preserved adults and preserved maggots. To aid in identification, we provided close-up photos of the adults and a simplified, one-page picture guide to flies. The groups were told that these adult flies were reared from maggots that were collected from the body. Groups were also provided with a photo of the maggots next to a ruler, indicating size in mm. After the groups identified the flies, they could use the associated maggots to determine the postmortem interval (time since death or PMI), using relevant size-specific development rates for each species. Data for both species indicated that the time since death was 10 days. Provided that she was found on 30 May, the groups were able to determine that she died on 20 May. This date gave the students the combination (0–5–20) needed to open a combination lock and access the second box of evidence. Materials for the first activity presented to the groups. The second box of evidence contained information regarding insect pests of rice. Groups were provided with rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel) specimens, photos of four different rice pests, and a simplified, one-page guide to common insect pests of rice. They were also provided with laminated rice plant parts, which also showed rice insect pest damage. Students were required to work in their groups to identify the insects. After the insects were identified, the group was required to cipher a code to spell out the word “rice.” The word “rice” was then used to open a four-letter combination lock to access a third box of evidence (Fig. 4). Close-up of locked evidence box showing four-letter combination lock. The third box of evidence contained mosquito evidence that was found on the body, along with a simplified dichotomous key to mosquitoes, a decoder ring, and a key chain and key containing a coded message. To aid in identification, preserved adult mosquitoes and close-up photographs of the mosquitoes were provided. Groups were tasked with using the dichotomous key to identify the mosquito as Psorophora columbiae, the dark rice field mosquito. To decode the secret message, the groups needed to know the couplet number (number 8), which was then used to decode a secret message (“Not Done Yet”) to open a wooden box. Within the wooden box, the groups were provided with information about how to obtain the last packet of evidence to determine how the victim died. After groups determined the mosquito that was responsible for the victim’s death, their final task was to determine how she died. Groups were provided a wealth of scientific literature on West Nile virus, screwworms, Zika virus, Lyme disease, exsanguination, allergic response to insects, toxic ingestion of insects, and case studies involving suicide and fear of insects. In addition, they were provided with a simplified chart (Fig. 5), weather data, and information about how to complete the escape room. By reading through the information, the groups were able to determine that the victim had been exsanguinated by an overabundance of mosquitoes that emerged after intense rainfall. This was also supported by additional photographic evidence of dead livestock in the area and photos of swarms of mosquitoes. After the groups had determined the final piece of information, they unlocked a final wooden box by matching When, Where, Who, and How the victim died (Fig. 6). When the box was opened, the students found information regarding how to contact the judge to exonerate the suspect. Example of laminated sheet showing possible causes of death. Final wooden box, which could only be opened by solving all the activities in order to complete the escape-room challenge. On average, it took 40 to 45 minutes for most of the groups to finish. However, we found that students were very eager to use their “hint” chips early on in the process. Had we not allowed the use of these hints in the activity, the escape-room activity may have lasted closer to one hour. After completing the escape-room activity, students filled out evaluations of their experience at our 4-H University event. Results suggested that the high school students enjoyed this exercise and found it informative (Table 1). Feedback results from “Using Insects to Solve Crimes: 4-H University Workshop.” Feedback results from “Using Insects to Solve Crimes: 4-H University Workshop.” The escape-room-themed curriculum provided an excellent opportunity to engage high school students and show them the diversity of disciplines in entomology. Within a single hour, they learned about forensic entomology, post-mortem intervals, rice insect pests, dichotomous keys, and the different ways that insects can cause death and disease in humans and animals; and they used teamwork and problem solving to achieve their goal. This project cost about $250 in supplies to create 10 identical escape-room kits and required very few additional resources beyond live insects, paper, toolboxes, and combination locks. Although it took time to develop and print out materials, these are resources I will be able to use repeatedly in outreach events. In addition, this approach lends itself to easily changing out different pieces of the escape room to incorporate other areas of entomology such as insect conservation and urban entomology. My positive experience with this unique learning approach has encouraged me to recommend that other entomologists consider using escape-room-themed curricula to engage students and educate them about entomology. “Within a single hour, they learned about forensic entomology, post-mortem intervals, rice insect pests, dichotomous keys, and the different ways that insects can cause death and disease in humans and animals; and they used teamwork and problem solving to achieve their goal.” I thank the following people for their assistance in developing, testing, and deploying these materials at 4-H University: Sakeenah Ashiru, Lina Berniola, Evan Bramlet, Madeleine Chura, Ana Escobar, Giovana Franco, Shiloh Judd, Sarah Lang, Leslie Lopez, Daniel McNamarra, Thomas O’Shea Wheller, Hannah Penn, and Jared Robinson. Kristen Healy is an assistant professor at the Louisiana State University, Department of Entomology, and works in areas of public health entomology.