Unlocking potentials: Impact of integrating scaffolded educational escape rooms on junior high school students’ motivation, creativity, and academic achievement in Chinese language instruction

Learning motivation and creative thinking are widely acknowledged as key competencies underpinning learners’ future competitiveness in rapidly evolving social systems. Yet, conventional Chinese language instruction in secondary schools remains predominantly characterized by rote memorization and literal comprehension, which may suppress motivation and restrict opportunities for higher-order cognitive engagement. To address such gap, this study designed and implemented an instructional intervention that integrates a scaffolded educational escape room (SEER) framework into Chinese language education. The intervention was theoretically grounded in Pintrich and Schunk’s motivational theory and Rhodes’ 4 P model of creativity. The ten-week program was structured into four instructional phases and implemented with a group of 38 seventh-grade students in a junior high school in Taiwan. Adopting a one-group pretest-posttest design with a mixed-methods approach, the study examined the effects of the intervention on students' learning motivation, academic achievement, and creativity. Results indicated significant improvements across all subcomponents of learning motivation and creativity. Although qualitative data reflected students’ perceived gains in comprehension and engagement, quantitative results showed a significant decline in posttest academic performance. Based on these findings, the study offers practical and research-oriented recommendations for future curriculum design and implementation. • The study developed the SEER framework for Chinese instruction based on motivational, creativity, and scaffolding theories. • Multi-form scaffolding in educational escape-room shapes cognitive engagement, creative thinking, and learning process. • A mixed-methods study of a 7th-grade SEER integreted course, evaluated creativity, learning motivation, and academic achievement. • The SEER course significantly improved students' learning motivation and creative thinking in both verbal and figural domains. • A "learning paradox" emerged quantitative academic scores declined despite qualitative evidence of improved comprehension.