Period: 9.6.2020 - 20.1.2022

Content: Municipalities in Finland have the option to provide immigrants with preparatory classes. However, this option further delays the integration of immigrants into mainstream classes and produces poorer results compared to the mainstream classroom. Our vision, therefore, is to enable the current L2 education in Finland to transform based on the current needs of society, in order to ensure better integration of the immigrants.This carefully designed, user experience approach will allow for optimal game development. The intention behind the game is to provide a means to better integrate immigrant students into mainstream classrooms, and close the communication and achievement gap between immigrant students and their peers. The game will provide teachers with a tool to implement in their classrooms to facilitate cross cultural interaction and learning. It will be used to increase motivation among immigrant students, and to build confidence in the target language. Research conducted on Municipalities in Finland have the option to provide immigrants with preparatory classes. However, this option further delays the integration of immigrants into mainstream classes and produces poorer results compared to the mainstream classroom. This game will help expand empirical understandings on how to support immigrant students in Finland in a more effective and meaningful l way. This research has the potential to inform research-based educational practices that will have implications for teaching and learning at a national level. It is necessary for new approaches to immigrant integration to be tested in order to address the current achievement gap in Finland.

Focus area: Konst kultur och entreprenörskap

Campus: Jakobstad

Financers: Svenska kulturfonden

Partners: Åbo Akademi

Project manager: Tobias Björkskog

Partners: Åbo Akademi