LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH & LEARNING PROGRAMME
World of Us: a long-term learning & impact initiative
Using play to understand how children encounter the world — and how their understanding can change over time.
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THE PROGRAMME
World of Us (WoU) is an educational game universe developed by TALES to introduce children to cultures, stories, people, places and environmental knowledge from around the world.
After several years of participatory research, co-creation and game development, World of Us is entering a new phase.
The objective of this next phase is not simply to continue expanding the game.
It is to learn from it.
We want to understand what happens when children encounter culturally diverse stories through sustained, interactive play — and how those encounters may influence curiosity, knowledge, empathy, perspective-taking and their relationship with cultures and environments beyond their own.
To do this, TALES is establishing a longitudinal research and learning programme around the stable core of World of Us.
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THE AMBITION
From educational game to living research environment
World of Us provides an unusual opportunity.
Rather than conducting isolated educational interventions, we can create a consistent digital environment that children encounter repeatedly over time.
This allows researchers, educators and TALES to ask a deeper question:
What can culturally grounded interactive storytelling contribute to the way children understand themselves, other people and the wider world
Our ambition is to place the stable core of World of Us within a carefully selected network of educational environments and collaborate with researchers who can study its effects over time.
The intention is not to prove that the game “works.”
The intention is to build credible evidence about what changes, for whom, under which circumstances, and why.
WHY LONGITUDINAL?
Small experiences, observed over time
Many educational experiences are evaluated immediately after an intervention.
World of Us gives us the possibility to look further
We are interested in observing children across repeated encounters with the game and asking whether small experiences accumulate into more meaningful shifts.
We therefore want to explore outcomes at several levels:
Level 01
Immediate
What does a child notice, understand, remember or question after playing?
LEVEL 02
Emerging
Does repeated exposure increase curiosity about cultures, places, environmental systems or people outside the child’s immediate experience?
LEVEL 03
Behavioural
Do children begin asking different questions, seeking additional information, discussing what they encounter, or approaching unfamiliar perspectives differently?
LEVEL 04
Longer-term
Can repeated encounters with diverse cultural narratives contribute to stronger perspective-taking, cultural appreciation, environmental awareness or a sense of interconnectedness?
THE PROGRAMME
Five complementary dimensions of impact
The programme will not be built around one single hypothesis.
Instead, WoU becomes a shared research environment through which different academic and educational partners can investigate complementary dimensions of impact.
01
Cultural curiosity & knowledge
Does interaction with culturally grounded stories increase children’s knowledge of — and curiosity toward — cultures beyond their own?
Possible areas of study include:
cultural knowledge acquisition
curiosity and information-seeking
retention of cultural knowledge
recognition of cultural diversity
understanding similarities and differences between communities
02
Perspective-taking & empathy
Can interactive storytelling help children consider experiences and perspectives that differ from their own?
Research may explore:
perspective-taking
social imagination
reduction of stereotyping
empathy
attitudes toward difference
emotional engagement with unfamiliar stories
03
Identity & belonging
What happens when children encounter a world in which many cultures and knowledge systems are visible?
Research may explore:
cultural identity
belonging
children’s responses to seeing their own culture represented
recognition and representation
self-esteem
relationships between local identity and global awareness
04
Environmental awareness
Many of the stories and environments within World of Us connect culture and nature.
We want to explore whether these experiences influence:
ecological knowledge
environmental curiosity
understanding of interconnected natural systems
awareness of human–environment relationships
stewardship attitudes
05
Learning through play
World of Us also provides a platform for investigating the learning experience itself.
Researchers may study:
game-based learning
exploratory behaviour
retention compared with conventional educational formats
intrinsic motivation
learning through narrative
the relationship between agency, play and knowledge acquisition
The Research Journey
MONTHS 1–6
Baseline & research network
Outcome of MONTHS 1–6
A functioning international research network and a validated framework for longitudinal WoU studies.
Establish the stable research environment
This phase creates the foundation: define the stable WoU research build, establish the research baseline, build the research consortium, select educational environments, develop shared protocols and conduct initial pilots.
During this phase we will:
Establish the research baseline
Define the core experience, intended learning mechanisms and measurable dimensions of impact.
Build the research consortium
Identify researchers and academic partners whose expertise aligns with the WoU research territories.
Select educational environments
Establish partnerships with a small but diverse group of schools, learning centres and educational programmes.
Design shared protocols
Develop ethical, age-appropriate research methodologies, consent processes and baseline measurements.
Pilot
Conduct small-scale studies to test instruments, implementation methods and data collection.
MONTHS 7–12
Study & Compare
Different research partners may investigate different questions while contributing to a shared longitudinal dataset.
We aim to work across contrasting educational environments so that researchers can understand not only whether an effect exists, but also the conditions under which it emerges.
Research activity may combine:
qualitative case studies
knowledge assessments
creative exercises
observation
teacher feedback
interviews
children’s reflections
pre/post measurements
gameplay analytics
Outcome of MONTHS 7–12
Multiple comparable studies examining how children interact with and respond to World of Us across different contexts.
Move from pilots to longitudinal implementation
Children within participating environments begin repeated engagement with the stable WoU experience. Different research partners can investigate complementary questions while contributing to a shared dataset across contrasting educational environments.
MONTHS 13–18
Synthesise & Translate
Understand what the evidence means
The final phase focuses on identifying patterns across participating research environments, synthesising findings and translating the evidence into practical and academic learning.
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Findings can inform the future development of World of Us, TALES’ storytelling methodology, educational resources, culturally responsive game design and TALES’ wider impact measurement framework.
Across the participating research environments we will ask:
What changed?
Where did we see the strongest changes?
For which children?
Under what educational conditions?
Which elements of World of Us appear to contribute to those changes?
Which assumptions were not supported by the evidence?
The objective is to produce both academic knowledge and practical learning.
Research findings can inform:
future development of World of Us
TALES’ storytelling methodology
educational resources for teachers
guidance for culturally responsive game design
future research into interactive cultural storytelling
TALES’ wider impact measurement framework
Outcome of MONTHS 13–18
A synthesis of findings and practical learning that can inform the future of World of Us, TALES and wider research into interactive cultural storytelling.
Who we are looking for
Researchers
We are interested in researchers working across disciplines including:
Developmental & educational psychology
Researchers studying children’s cognitive, emotional or social development.
Education & learning sciences
Researchers specialising in learning processes, pedagogy and educational environments.
Game-based learning
Researchers investigating interactive and digital learning environments.
Intercultural education
Researchers studying cultural understanding, identity, representation and intercultural competence.
Anthropology & childhood studies
Researchers interested in how children understand culture, identity and the world around them.
Environmental education
Researchers investigating ecological learning, environmental attitudes and stewardship.
Human–computer interaction
Researchers interested in children’s interaction with digital environments and learning technologies.
Impact measurement
Researchers developing rigorous methodologies for understanding complex behavioural and attitudinal change.
We particularly welcome interdisciplinary research teams.
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Educational partners
Long-term learning partners, not test locations
We are looking for educational environments willing to become long-term learning partners rather than simply test locations.
Participation may range from hosting a focused study with one cohort to becoming a multi-year WoU research site.
The 18-month programme does not need to imply that every research relationship ends after 18 months. “Multi-year” communicates the wider ambition and possibility for continued collaboration beyond the initial programme cycle.
Ideal partners are interested in questions around:
global citizenship
intercultural learning
digital literacy
environmental education
game-based learning
social-emotional learning
culturally responsive education
A SHARED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
TALES’ role is to make meaningful research possible
We aim to provide participating researchers with:
A stable WoU research build
A clearly defined version of the game that remains sufficiently consistent for longitudinal comparison.
Game analytics
Where ethically and technically appropriate, researchers can analyse patterns of interaction inside the game.
Cultural research
Access to the research, community engagement and knowledge systems behind the stories represented in WoU.
Educational resources
Supporting materials for educators and research environments.
Research coordination
A shared framework connecting individual studies to the wider programme.
Game-based learning
Researchers investigating interactive and digital learning environments.
From one game to a bigger question
From One Game to a Bigger Question
World of Us began with a simple ambition:
to allow children to encounter a wider world through play.
But the larger question belongs to TALES.
Can the stories we choose to tell — and the ways in which people encounter them — contribute to how societies understand cultures, communities and the planet?
WoU gives us a rare opportunity to examine part of that question empirically.
The research programme therefore contributes directly to TALES’ wider impact journey:
1
2
3
4
5
Create
Culturally grounded stories and interactive experiences are developed through research and participatory storytelling.
Share
Children encounter these stories through accessible digital experiences and educational environments.
Engage
Children explore, play, question, discuss and interact with perspectives beyond their own.
Measure
Researchers investigate what those encounters produce.
Learn
Evidence informs both the future of WoU and TALES’ broader storytelling practice.
The question we want to answer
By the end of this programme, we want to be able to answer something more meaningful than
How many children played World of Us?
We want to begin answering:
What happens when children repeatedly encounter a culturally diverse world through play?
And ultimately: