Playful Pathways to Two-Way Integration: Game-Based Activity for Children in Daycare
Kleinhuizen, Nicholas; Spano Jaliff, Leonardo Andres (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025112429537
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025112429537
Tiivistelmä
This development-oriented thesis aimed to create a game-based multicultural activity that was a practical resource for educational settings to support the two-way integration of children with a foreign background are present. Two-way integration is defined as a reciprocal process where all individuals’ cultures are mutually exchanged to foster inclusion, societal cohesion and belongingness, rather than expecting it only from certain groups of the community. The concept stands on the fact that integration is most effective when all individuals engage in building equally a shared understanding of the communities' values and future direction.
The basis for this thesis came from an asset-based perspective that sought for ways to showcase the cultural strengths and resources of communities within opportunity structures, such as in schools and youth centers. This purpose also strove to create tools to help prevent the formation of parallel communities, a goal shared with recent Finnish government policy.
This thesis aimed to create an activity which was fun and interactive, and, most importantly, throughout each step – design, implementation and evaluation – approach it in a participatory approach, involving all stakeholders in order to create an activity that was meaningful, useful to their needs and sustainable. The stakeholders were involved in the content development and structured feedback which helped to refine the project throughout. The assessment was based on the criteria for effectiveness, relevance, impact, and sustainability which were drawn out from a qualitative assessment and observation.
The outcome of this thesis was the creation and evaluation of the play-based activity which supported a dialogue about cultures, curiosity, and belonging among the children. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that a structured, inclusive game-based activity can be used in educational or youth center settings to support two-way integration and cohesion. Further research is needed to test the activity across wider contexts, different age groups, and if similar outcomes persist over longer periods.
The basis for this thesis came from an asset-based perspective that sought for ways to showcase the cultural strengths and resources of communities within opportunity structures, such as in schools and youth centers. This purpose also strove to create tools to help prevent the formation of parallel communities, a goal shared with recent Finnish government policy.
This thesis aimed to create an activity which was fun and interactive, and, most importantly, throughout each step – design, implementation and evaluation – approach it in a participatory approach, involving all stakeholders in order to create an activity that was meaningful, useful to their needs and sustainable. The stakeholders were involved in the content development and structured feedback which helped to refine the project throughout. The assessment was based on the criteria for effectiveness, relevance, impact, and sustainability which were drawn out from a qualitative assessment and observation.
The outcome of this thesis was the creation and evaluation of the play-based activity which supported a dialogue about cultures, curiosity, and belonging among the children. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that a structured, inclusive game-based activity can be used in educational or youth center settings to support two-way integration and cohesion. Further research is needed to test the activity across wider contexts, different age groups, and if similar outcomes persist over longer periods.