| Pentti Hakkarainen | |
| Birth Date: | 1944 |
| Birth Name: | Pentti Ensio Hakkarainen |
| Death Date: | June 1, 2021 |
| Fields: | Psychology |
| Workplaces: | University of Oulu, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences |
| Alma Mater: | University of Jyväskylä |
Pentti E. Hakkarainen (1944 – June 1, 2021[1]) was a Lithuanian educational psychologist of Finnish origin.
He graduated from the University of Jyväskylä in 1967, where he went on to obtain a master's degree and then a Ph.D. in 1970 and 1972, respectively.[2] Hakkarainen defended his habilitated doctoral thesis in 1991. During the period of 1997-2011 he worked as professor at the University of Oulu and was elected as vice-dean of the Department of Educational Sciences in 2006.[3] He was a professor of Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences since 2012 where he headed the Research Laboratory of Play (LUES, VMU). He is editor-in-chief of Journal of Russian & East European Psychology[4] and served on the editorial boards of and .[5] His research interests included creative, developmental teaching and learning in preschools, schools and higher education, narrative learning and development in play and virtual environments. He published a number of books in Finnish, English, and Lithuanian.