BREAKOUT AS A STRATEGY TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGICAL VOCATIONS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL: THE ENIGMA OF HEDY LAMARR
N. Merayo, L. del Val, P. Fernández
Nowadays, there is a significant amount of research integrating escape room or breakout activities related to gamification to effectively increase motivation and learning at the primary school level. In fact, educational gamification is increasingly seen as a tool that enhances the development of cognitive and social skills and is being progressively integrated into various educational environments. It also improves the students' learning process and encourages cooperative work. More specifically, some authors suggest that using escape rooms in the classroom promotes challenge-based learning, gamification, cooperative work, and multiple intelligences. Additionally, they also help develop other skills such as respect, time management, working under pressure, problem solving and, most importantly, communication.
On the other hand, Telecommunications have a very recent history compared to other disciplines. In fact, the term was first defined on September 3, 1932, at the XIII Conference of the International Telegraph Union held in Madrid. However, it was not until the 1980s, and especially the 1990s, with the rise of the Internet supported by the deployment of fiber optics, that Telecommunications began to have a strong presence in society, and their expansion has increased dramatically to this day. In fact, Telecommunications are advancing at such a rapid pace that it is almost impossible to predict where they are headed. This impactful and accelerating evolution is not reflected in the societal recognition of the key figures who created the most important inventions and developments in this field, particularly women. Unlike other scientific disciplines, where significant efforts have been made to highlight women's contributions, these figures in Telecommunications remain largely hidden.
Therefore, this paper presents an educational breakout designed to promote technological vocations, with a particular focus on enhancing the visibility of women in the telecommunications sector from early educational stages, such as primary school children aged 8-12, and highlighting their inventions, developments, and contributions. Since this is a relatively new discipline, there is also a significant lack of knowledge about women's roles in these field. Thus, the breakout, designed in a classroom format, includes a series of tests that the students must solve. Specifically, the story focuses on women inventors in telecommunications, with Hedy Lamarr, a prominent figure in this field, as the central character. The students must figure out who has kidnapped her and where she is being held. Additionally, throughout the tests, the students will uncover the location where Hedy Lamarr is being kept and the final code needed to rescue her.
The proposed breakout has a strong potential for dissemination among primary schools, as it is conceived with the idea of creating an easily transportable kit with all the necessary elements and tests to be carried out at any primary school that requests it, including a guide to its use. However, in the future it is also intended to recreate it at a virtual level so that it will have an even greater reach at a national level, and even at an international level if a version is made in this language.
Keywords: Breakout, Technological vocations, Motivation, Primary Schools, Female technological roles.