Herein we propose the implementation of an "escape room" activity to reinforce chemistry-related concepts for students of the Bachelor of Arts and Fashion. In this work, a combined online and offline activity is developed, easily adaptable to different environments. The online activity consists of 5 blocks of multiple-quiz questions…

Puzzles involving infinite networks of resistors are an engaging way for students to explore the idea of infinity and self-similarity in physics. Recently K Atkin has described one such puzzle, alongside a solution based on an equivalent finite network (2022 "Phys. Educ." 57 025015). Here we present a generalisation of this problem which…

The quest in the "Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Which Chiral Drug Is the Fairest of Them All?" escape room activity was to find an enantiomer drug that cures a "sleeping sickness". Based loosely on the story of Snow White, first-year pharmacy student pairs had 50 min to solve gamified stereochemistry quizzes (tasks 1-4), collect…

Chemical escape rooms (ChEsRms) are educational games in which students use their brain, chemical knowledge, intuition, and a bit of luck to solve a mystery. At the Weizmann Institute, we have developed ChEsRms that are implemented by teachers in their classes. Since the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all the educational activities that took place in…

This teaching brief describes an engaging, in-class exercise that introduces genetic algorithms as well as advanced Excel functions and capabilities by modeling the familiar Sudoku puzzle. Student groups are first asked to manually solve a given puzzle and then translate that solution methodology to a spreadsheet model. This exercise can be used…

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"…

Problem-solving skills in creative, open-ended domains are both important and little understood. These domains are generally ill-structured, have extremely large exploration spaces, and require high levels of specialized skill in order to produce quality solutions. We investigate problem-solving behavior in one such domain, the…

We present in this work a demonstration of the maze-solving problem with electricity. Electric current flowing in a maze as a printed circuit produces Joule heating and the right way is instantaneously revealed with infrared thermal imaging. The basic properties of electric current can be discussed in this context, with this challenging question:…

Chemistry is a technical scientific discipline strongly underpinned by its own complex and diverse language. To be successful in the problem-solving aspects of chemistry, students must master the language of chemistry, and in particular, the definition of terms and concepts. To assist students in this challenging task, a variety of instructional…

Learning physics often requires overcoming common misconceptions based on naïve interpretations of observations in the everyday world. One proposed way to help learners build appropriate physics intuitions is to expose them to computer simulations in which motion is based on Newtonian principles. In addition, playing video games that require…

Science is a complex process, and we must not teach our students overly simplified versions of "the" scientific method. We propose that students can uncover the complex realities of scientific thinking by exploring the similarities and differences between solving the familiar crossword puzzles and scientific "puzzles."…

A major goal of education is to help learners store information in long-term memory and use that information on later occasions to effectively solve problems (Vockell 2010). Therefore, this author began to use the Rubik's cube to help students learn to problem solve. There is something special about this colorful three-dimensional puzzle that…

Concepts in mathematics are often universally applicable to other fields. A critical aspect for success in high school or college is the ability to transfer content knowledge from one discipline to another. This is especially true for material learned in the sciences and mathematics. Several studies have suggested that strong mathematical skills…

This paper provides nine short chemically based puzzles or problems extensible for use with students from middle school to college. Some of these will strengthen students' recognition of individual elements and element names. Others require students to focus on the salient properties of given chemical elements.

A puzzle was developed as a resource for teaching intermediate chemistry students where they need to use general intelligence and logic skills. The puzzle involves identification of name, age, subdiscipline of chemistry and position of 6 students around the table by using certain data provided to them.