Abstract
Introductory programming is difficult for many secondary-school students because concepts such as variables, types, casting, arithmetic, and conditionals require learners to connect abstract code structures to dynamic program behaviour. This study investigates how a digital educational escape room based on scaffolding and the semantic wave can contribute to the process of learning fundamental programming concepts. A digital escape room called The Factory was designed and tested with 13 Dutch VWO students in six groups. In the game, students configured factory production lines in which boxes represented variables and values, machines represented operations, and routing behaviour represented conditionals. The game consisted of 24 sequential levels that introduced concepts through concrete factory mechanics before gradually shifting toward more abstract programming-like representations.
The study used a mixed-methods descriptive case-study approach. Data were collected through in-game logs, audio and video recordings of student interaction, and researcher observation notes. The analysis focused on process markers rather than formal learning gain, including completion time, attempts, registered mistakes, support use, collaboration, and student movement between concrete game mechanics and abstract programming concepts.
The results show that the escape room created observable opportunities for students to reason between concrete factory representations and programming concepts. Students used terms such as string, int, var, if, and else while discussing boxes, colours, machines, routes, and values. Difficulty increased especially at levels that required an upward shift toward more programmatic representations or the combination of earlier concepts. Several scaffolded level sequences showed reduced completion times and fewer attempts after an introductory level, particularly in the conditional sequence. However, the casting sequence showed that scaffolding was not equally effective throughout the game, as the step from introduction to practice was too large for some groups. The findings indicate that a digital educational escape room can support the learning process of introductory programming by making abstract concepts visible, discussable, and connected to concrete actions. However, the results should be interpreted as process evidence rather than proof of learning gain. Future versions should refine the pacing of abstraction, improve hint integration, reduce interface-related difficulty, and include the debriefing phase more explicitly in the research design.