Escape Room as an Innovative strategy for assessing physical fitness in Secondary Education students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v82.117472Keywords:
Escape room , gamification, high school education, motivation, physical fitnessAbstract
Introduction: fitness tests are a common resource in Physical Education but are often perceived negatively by students due to their evaluative and competitive nature. Gamification, and particularly Escape Rooms, have emerged as innovative methodologies capable of creating more motivating and meaningful experiences.
Objective: to analyze the impact of an Escape Room designed for performing fitness tests on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and the overall perception of High School students.
Methodology: a quasi-experimental, descriptive, and cross-sectional design was conducted with 89 10th-grade students from a public secondary school. The intervention consisted of a one-session Escape Room in which fitness tests were embedded within the game dynamics. Motivation was assessed through the Spanish version of the BPNES scale and an ad hoc questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions.
Results: mean scores were high in autonomy and relatedness, and moderate in competence. The global BPNES score was above 4 (scale 1–5). Most students reported high levels of satisfaction and perceived usefulness and expressed willingness to repeat the experience. The qualitative analysis highlighted categories related to learning, self-awareness, and motivation
Discussion: findings are consistent with previous studies that demonstrated the positive effect of gamified methodologies on student motivation and perceptions of fitness testing. Narrative and teamwork emerged as key factors for transforming evaluation into a formative experience.
Conclusions: implementing an Escape Room is an effective alternative to enhance the perception and educational meaning of fitness tests in Secondary Education, promoting motivation and the development of curricular competences.
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