Spectroscopy Unlocked: An Escape Room Activity for Introductory Chemistry Courses

Spectroscopy Unlocked is an escape room activity cocreated by student and staff authors. The escape room presents students with a series of activities that they must complete in the laboratory in order to reveal a series of codes and clues that can be combined to “unlock” the escape room. Students were highly engaged with the escape room, and evaluation of the activity revealed that students agreed that the format of the activity facilitated their learning and that the activities provided an appropriate level of challenge. The activity can be integrated into introductory chemistry courses, and it may be possible to adapt the activity to change the level or content to meet the specific needs of other courses.