Escape Room Activity to Teach Head and Neck Anatomy

Students have ranked head and neck anatomy as one of the most complex areas to learn as it contains highly detailed spaces. Incorporating a head and neck escape room activity into anatomy curricula provides an engaging and effective way for the students to review these spaces and their relationships.

We piloted a head and neck escape room activity for the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine students (round A) and implemented a modified version for the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School students (round B) as an anatomy review. We utilized a mixed-methods analysis to determine the activity's effectiveness in reviewing this content and garner students' perceptions.

Students (N = 149) reported that the escape room was useful to their learning (round A = 93%, round B = 100%), helped identify gaps in their knowledge (round A = 94%, round B = 98%), and required multiple skills to complete (e.g., interpersonal, problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptability). Students also noted the activity was fun (round A = 86%, round B = 100%). Despite positive student perceptions, the activity did not result in statistically significant improvements in posttest performance for round A (p = .87) or round B students (p = .16).

While the escape room may not have shown significant improvement in knowledge, integrating this active learning tool does help students identify gaps in their knowledge and requires the utilization of various skills, which can make students better health care professionals.