Mission AVERT: A Geoscience Escape Room

“A life-threatening asteroid is approaching Earth. Mission AVERT, designed to deflect it from its trajectory, is ready to launch – if only the missing launch codes can be recovered in time...”

Interactive games offer an innovative approach to geoscience outreach, fostering curiosity and learning through hands-on challenges. With Mission AVERT, we created a multimedia geoscience-themed escape room game designed for 13 - 14-year-olds to explore geoscience concepts in an engaging and accessible format. Inspired by NASA’s DART mission, students solve puzzles encrypting the mission’s launch codes to deflect a life-threatening asteroid from colliding with Earth.

Mission AVERT showcases the diverse and essential role of geoscience in addressing real-world challenges. Its puzzles cover a broad spectrum of geoscience topics, including earthquakes, climate change, planetary science, and scientific policy communication. Solving them requires teamwork and a variety of skills – ranging from mathematics and physics to language, creativity, and keen observation – ensuring that every student can contribute meaningfully based on their individual strengths. By featuring students and staff from Imperial College London in video messages, Mission AVERT offers young participants relatable role models working and conducting research in geoscience. Comprised of an interactive website, videos, and paper-based puzzles, it integrates seamlessly into classrooms, with little setup or preparation required.

Here, we will explore the design process, educational objectives, and preliminary feedback and lessons learned from our first classroom implementation. We discuss how escape rooms like Mission AVERT can spark an interest in geoscience while equipping students with problem-solving and teamwork skills.