Research

education in small steps and full circles

Educational Research Projects

In conformity with our mandate to work to undertake research that can change educational dynamics, Micro Steps will undertake the following ongoing projects as funding permits.

Simplified English

Among the thousands of existing languages in the world, English stands out as the most widespread "lingua franca." Why this is the case we will not debate, nor will we attempt to argue if other languages are better suited. Airline pilots who wish to fly internationally must know English. In the same way many academic disciplines use English as their "lingua franca."

However, when compared to a language such as Italian, the complexities of learning English are daunting. The primary reason for this is that Italian has a single sound-syllable relationship. This is not the case in English. In English, the letter "a" has many sounds it represents, as does "b" and "c."

Montessori 's methods of teaching children to write and then read, work well in Italian, but do not work so well in English.

Micro Steps intend to investigate the economics of the inconsistencies of English and to estimate the social and economic cost of learning and learning disabilities that are causally related to the inconsistencies of English.

If you are interested in these projects, please contact us.