Often innovations in education involve thinking outside the box. Just ask Associate Professor and Researcher James Munoz with the NSU’s College of Psychology.
When he’s not conducting research, Munoz is teaching Neuroanatomy and Research Methods in Neuroscience on the NSU’s Davie Campus. During a recent “light bulb” moment, Munoz thought about a captivating way to ingrain neuroscience concepts in the brains of his students. He envisioned an escape room.
“Developing the individual challenges was a labor of love and pain,” Munoz said. “I based each challenge on a learning objective. First, I thought about an objective. For instance, the action potential, cranial nerve innervation, control of eye movements, etc. Then the real challenge began of trying to think of ways to turn those concepts into physical puzzles. In some instances, it meant walking around looking at arts and crafts for hours until something clicked.”
Munoz says that once the first puzzle came together, the others started to fall into place more quickly.
“Developing an escape room changes how one thinks,” he said.
Munoz made the escape room a supporting event outside of class time. The rules were simple:
- There would 13 teams of four picked on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- Students majoring in neuroscience, exercise science, biology, and psychology would be invited to participate.
- There would be six challenges.
- Each team would have 30 minutes to decipher the clues and escape.
- Each member of the first-place team (escape artists with the best time) would receive a $100 gift card provided by the Office of Student Success.
- Each member of the second-place team would receive $25 gift cards provided by the College of Psychology.
- The College of Psychology also would provide gift bags and snacks for all participants as well as purchase all the supplies.
“Registration filled up within 20 minutes,” Munoz said.
Each challenge was focused on a learning objective for the Introduction to Neuroscience and Neuroanatomy courses. Each challenge that a team solved revealed a lock combination to one of several locks on a Plexiglas box with the mold of a brain inside. The objective: unlock the box, release the brain, and thus, escape.
Munoz staged the escape room in one of the conference rooms. The students met challenges with a combination of fun and frantic as they scurried about the room relying on teamwork to crack the winning codes.
“I’ve only participated in two escape rooms, but I enjoyed how we kept talking about it after and appreciated how it challenged us,” he said. “I thought if we could create a similar experience for our students, they might appreciate using their knowledge in a fun, challenging way – similar to how the best movies are the ones that make you think and prompt discussion.”
When the smoke cleared from the competition, one conclusion was evident: The students loved the escape room, and so did fellow faculty. It’s safe to say the experiment has opened new doors.
“I’m currently collaborating with two other faculty for our next escape room,” Munoz said.
Munoz, who has been at NSU for 14 years, has a Ph.D. in neuroscience with an emphasis in gene therapy. His research examines factors that regulate the proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neural stem cells. The transplantation of certain types of neural stem cells has the potential of curing several neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and spinal cord injuries.
