The internationalization project Kopernik

Conceived as part of Turbo Tape Games co-founder Fredrik Sundt Breien as part of his research at the Human-Computer Interaction lab of the Norwegian School of Information Technology, the Kopernik project dates back to the spring of 2004. After being initiated as a pilot project by Sintef in 2005, Kopernik has since grown into a full fledged collaborative virtual learning ground for high schools in Western Norway and Northern Poland.

In Kopernik pupils utilize on-line game technology based collaborative structures to cooperate and communicate across national borders in a broad spectrum of curricular subjects, spanning from cultural sciences through mathematics as well as the implicit language disciplines. An empty virtual world is populated by two school classes, one from each country. The pupils use their world to illustrate, exemplify and demonstrate curricular subjects to each other, teachers' as well external organizations and individuals.

Among other things, Kopernik has been used to sketch pupils visions of community centers, to describe off shore production of oil and gas and how energy is brought to consumers, to make virtual museums of historical periods like the second world war, Unesco sites in Norway and Poland, to describe and test physical forces like gravity on different planets, and much more. Pupils from Norway and Poland meet in Kopernik at regular intervals.

The Koperink virtual worlds are managed entirely by Turbo Tape Games. We configure the technology and set up instances for participating schools, and provide basic and advanced training for teachers and pupils alike. We also contribute with consultation services for teacher in making their holistic educational plans, to ensure plausibility of completion within the constraints of the system.

The Kopernik project has been highlighted in several pedagogical and scientific forums, including the Communication Science and Technology conference in Tromsø in 2006, at the Educational Conference of the Norwegian Department of Education in Bergen in 2007, at BKKs Games and Learning seminar at the Bergen Science Centre in 2008, at Generation Innovation in Vienna, Austria, and at the 2009 Norwegian Digital Learning Education Conference.

"This project is a project that this minister holds particularly close to heart."
Øystein Djupedal, Norwegian Minister of Education and Research, Communicating Science and Technology Conference, Tromsø 2006