2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Background: Gamified “escape-room” style activities are increasingly used to promote engagement, collaboration, and applied problem-solving in engineering education. This study describes the implementation of a physical anatomy breakout box as a culminating laboratory experience in a lower-level Anatomy for Engineers course to examine impacts on motivation,
Methods: Teams of 2–3 students entered a timed, narrative-driven scenario to unlock a series of anatomy based puzzles to restore an organ perfusion machine before time expires. The activity ran across two semesters in a large R1 setting (n = 119 post activity survey responses; 46 in Spring ’25, 73 in Fall ’25). Measures included Likert-style items on engagement and collaboration, pre/post topic-specific confidence ratings (Very/Somewhat/Not comfortable), and an open-ended reflection analyzed for themes (Fall ’25, n = 71).
Results: Most students agreed the activity promoted exploration of multiple solution paths (90%) and teamwork (88%); 73% reported that competition enhanced motivation, and 60% reported high absorption/flow. Pre/post confidence showed net positive change for 65% of students (76/117), net negative change for 15% (18/117), and no net change for 20% which suggests the experience both strengthened confidence for many and surfaced knowledge gaps for some. Thematic analysis of reflections highlighted high engagement/fun, favorable comparisons to traditional exams, collaboration/peer learning, application/integration of knowledge, and strategy use under time pressure.
Conclusions: A structured puzzle-box assessment can create a low-stakes, high-engagement environment that supports collaboration, applied reasoning, and confidence gains for many students while revealing specific areas needing review.