As the climate crisis grows ever more pressing for our planet, climate science in the K–12 classroom needs to expand beyond climate-specific curricula or piecemeal lessons.1,2 Our students are growing up in this rapidly changing world, and within their lifetimes they will continue to experience drastic environmental shifts. The relevance of climate change to their lives should increase their motivation to learn about a topic that is seemingly disconnected from physics.3 Physics teachers are searching for effective content-specific pedagogy that better prepares high school students to graduate as informed citizen scientists. To engage our learners in these important global issues, we created an Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach4 digital escape room game that transports students to a sinking remote Arctic research facility.
The ISLE approach serves as the theoretical framework for our Arctic escape room. This approach to learning and teaching puts the students at the...