Educational escape games in emotion education: effects on learning achievement, emotion regulation strategies, and achievement emotions among upper elementary students

IntroductionUpper elementary students face increasing social-emotional challenges during early adolescence, yet traditional lecture-based emotion education may provide limited opportunities for situated emotional practice. Although game-based learning has been widely used to enhance motivation and cognitive outcomes, the effects of educational escape games (EEGs) on emotion regulation strategies and achievement emotions remain insufficiently understood.MethodsThis study used a quasi-experimental mixed-methods design to examine the effects of integrating EEGs into an emotion education curriculum on fifth-grade students' learning achievement, self-reported emotion regulation strategies, and self-reported achievement emotions. Participants were 56 fifth-grade students from two intact classes at an elementary school in southern Taiwan. One class received a 6-week emotion education curriculum integrated with EEGs, whereas the other received teacher-guided questioning and explanation based on the same curriculum content. Quantitative data were collected through pretests and posttests and analyzed using paired-samples t-tests and ANCOVA. Qualitative data, including classroom observations and a focus group interview with seven students from the experimental group, were analyzed using framework analysis to contextualize the quantitative findings.ResultsAfter controlling for pretest scores, the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher curriculum-based learning achievement than the control group. However, no significant short-term changes were found in students' self-reported cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression. Regarding achievement emotions, the experimental group reported higher anxiety and lower enjoyment after the intervention. Qualitative findings suggested that students' anxiety was mainly related to time pressure, puzzle difficulty, and uncertainty, and was often accompanied by continued participation, peer discussion, and problem-solving attempts rather than withdrawal.DiscussionThese findings should be interpreted cautiously because a shortened achievement emotions measure was used and the anxiety subscale showed low internal consistency. Overall, EEGs may provide a high-challenge, highly engaging context for emotion education, but game-based learning does not necessarily increase enjoyment.