The POMELO project offers interactive educational tools and methodologies, to foster cultural integration and give young people equal voice and opportunity thanks to the power of music as a means of integration and learning.
In March 2020 around 30 people coming from Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Syria, Greece have been involved in the testing of the POMELO Info-games. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this small-scale pilot has been implemented online. The process included the possibility to send by email the link to play with the Info-game along with an evaluation form to be completed by participants. The main results show a great satisfaction in playing with the games and a positive reaction of participants in using these tools to enhance their perception of the others. These tools are a powerful system to reduce intolerance in face of different cultures and ethnic groups trying to use music as a social enhancer and concrete system for learning a foreign language.
Among the participants answers we can quote: “Music allows incorporating emotions into learning, and we always remember better what is linked to emotions. Sometimes it can be easier to remember things if they’re connected with some audio stimuli. It’s fun and relaxing educational tool. Music is common to all nations, so it can help to overcome barriers among them. It’s definitely more enjoyable, also it connects different parts of brain which increases ability to remember”.
All the feedback gathered has been exploited by project partners providing a strong update of the Info-games. Furthermore, the game experience has been considerably improved applying the suggestion offered by an extraordinary melting pot of users.