Teaching statistics to non-specialists is a challenge. Therefore, motivation is essential. The literature indicates that gamification methodology, and in particular the escape room activity, has the ability to stimulate student motivation during the teaching-learning process. Similarly, it has been shown that incorporating technology in educational contexts can increase student motivation and engagement in the learning process. In the case of statistics, its application to social problems is also motivating. For this reason, a digital escape room was created and implemented with statistical questions on current social problems. Specifically, the escape room's theme focused on the basics of descriptive statistics, through a situation where students had to help a ghost trapped in a mansion.

This paper presents a case study conducted with first-year students of the Industrial Design Engineering degree at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló (Spain). The objective of the study is to evaluate how the escape room contributes to increasing student interest and motivation, as well as consolidating learning. Students' perceptions of various items were assessed through a quantitative survey, with scores ranging from 0 to 10. Students were also asked through open-ended questions about their favorite and least favorite aspects of the activity.

The survey responses reflect that the vast majority of students believe the escape room has helped them: 1) to identify potential weaknesses that need to be reinforced (median of 8); 2) to learn, review, and consolidate concepts (median of 8.5); and 3) to improve their motivation (median of 9). The median satisfaction with this activity was 9.5. For all the questions the mode was 10. As for what they liked most, the most repeated responses were its originality, its fun, and the fact that it shows examples applied to real-life situations. Regarding areas for improvement, the vast majority would leave it as is, and only a few pointed out a technical issue related to the background sound.

These results highlight the benefits of implementing gamification in university mathematics teaching. We conclude that, in this case, the digital escape room is an effective educational methodology, capable of increasing student interest and promoting learning consolidation. This conclusion is consistent with the literature, since previous work in other areas has shown improvements in this regard.

Acknowledgments:
This work has been supported by grant 57293/25 from the Unitat de Formació i Innovació Educativa of the Universitat Jaume I.

Keywords: Gamification, motivation, higher education, mathematics, statistics, escape room.