Learning in “Paperland”: Cultural Tools and Learning Practices in Finland

Abstract

The article explores intercultural encounters in a vocational school and how cultural tools and practices are identified and made “visible”; without this process, the practices of the dominant groups are taken for granted and perhaps assumed to be beyond critical scrutiny. The study examines a cultural artifact and learning practices that immigrant students identified: different forms and uses of paper in Finland. The study introduces a new formative intervention method called the Culture Laboratory. The analyses showed that paper-dominant learning practices were varied but rigid. This means that critical reflection on cultural tools and practices is needed when people from different cultural backgrounds encounter each other, as well as spaces and methodologies for dialog and participation.