Organizational aspects and formative value of the implementation of a palaeontological Escape Room by students of the Master of Advanced Palaeontology (UCM)

This study aims to answer the question of whether the students of a master's degree are qualified to organise a leisure-educational activity aimed at high school students and the general public, and assesses whether said activity works as an educational tool for palaeontology outreach. For this, the results obtained from a palaeontology-themed escape room implemented by a group of students of the master's degree in Advanced Palaeontology at the Complutense University of Madrid during the XVIII Week of Science in Madrid have been analysed and the phases and development of the escape room are presented. Contributing students expressed a high degree of commitment and satisfaction, claiming as the main incentive to participate their interest in science and learning to achieve effective scientific dissemination. This activity has meant for the organizing students an application of what they have learned in the classroom and has allowed them to improve skills that will be useful in the long term. The evaluation of the experience by the attendees was also very positive. The great majority recommended the activity and considered that they had learned from it. Knowing as a society the past of the Earth and life, as well as our own origins, is the key to infer our future and, at least in part, to value the natural heritage that surrounds us and therefore to preserve and protect it.