The Influence of an Educational Computer Game on Children's Cultural Identities

This study develops an educational computer game, FORmosaHope (FH), to explore the influences that an educational computer game might have on children’s cultural identities. FH is a role-playing game, in which children can actively explore a mini-world to learn about science, technology, and society. One hundred and thirty sixth-graders, about 11-12 years old, from four classes in a middle-sized elementary school in Taiwan, participated in the study. A quasi-experimental design was used. The experimental group was two classes that explored FH for a period of six weeks. The other two classes that served as the control group did not receive any experimental treatment. Descriptive statistics, T-test and ANCOVA showed that the experimental group significantly strengthened their cultural identities compared to the control group. This implies that educational games can have an impact on children’s cultural identities through their educational contexts.