Bronfenbrenner 's Ecological Perspective Theory

In this paper, I will be talking about how an individual develops throughout their life and the many changes they go through while still maintain the skills they’ve learned. Human Development is very important for a person’s emotional and physical growth. In this paper, I will be discussing Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model, providing examples of Mesosystem, Ecosystem, and Microsystems. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning will be addressed by giving examples of what stage of cognitive development Harry shows and what stages of Kohlberg’s theory he represents. This paper will further the understanding of the different developments a person goes through to reach their fullest potential of

Ecological models can answer many questions regarding hypotheses, ecosystem parts and their functions (Marewski & Schooler, 2011). My ecological model was very standard for my teenage years (McWhirter, 2017). I was the first of four children and lived in Ohio, growing up during the ‘60s and ‘70s. We were an average American family living in an average suburb. We all had bicycles and went on bike rides all the time. In the summer, we would ride to the swimming pool in our town. In the summer, we did the book clubs at our library and we always had something to do together with our friends (McWhirter, 2017).

The old African proverb ‘it takes a whole village to raise a child’ (Mohamed, 1996, p. 57) rings significantly through Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner and Evans 2000); a theory which focuses on gaining insight into human development through identifying the circumstances and considering the environmental influences of which a child is raised not just the genetic components.

Throughout the world there are many homeless individuals who are in need of help. Many of these people have trouble finding a job or a way to help themselves get stable. Not a lot of the homeless know how to handle money or illnesses they have developed. Many homeless also suffer from addictions and are in need of rehabilitation programs. The cause of these illnesses or drug problems can be related to the fact that when growing up they suffered from different life changes and expectations within the bio ecological theory or context. For my Service Learning Project I have implemented a project that I believe will help the homeless community with their second chance.

Ecological perspective is a useful framework in which to view the individual in context with their environment. According to Rogers (2013) ecological theory was originally developed by a psychologist, Urie Bronfenbrenner in 1979 (p. 42). A fundamental tenet of ecological theory is that people are actively involved with their environments and their perceptions of the environment “significantly affects their well-being” (p. 42).

This semester I participated in a service learning partnership with two other students. Through the semester I spent a little over ten hours with each of my partners. Most of the activities we participated in were activities in which we were able to get to know one other on more of a personal level. The thing that made this partnership interesting was the fact we were all from different parts of the world. Which means the way we had grown up was very different for each of us.

There have been countless influential people in my life that I’ve come across. One who was a meticulous inspiration continues to be my grandfather. My grandmother had remarried to the one I call “grandpa” when I was at the age of five, and they both took to each other’s grandchildren as their own. With my mother and me only living a mile down the road from their farmhouse out in the country, I’d spent heaps amount of time there as a child. Indeed, I had been without a father but my grandfather stepped up to the plate and had taken me under his wing and willingly played the personification of a father figure.

Discuss Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and how it applies to the plight of children in the European migrant crisis

My grandma was a mother of three. She had my Aunt heather, Aunt Angie, and my mother. She raised my mother and Heather while going to college, which is a fight on its own, but to make it more difficult, she had hodgkins and had spent over an entire year fighting it in Iowa’s childrens hospital and held victory her senior year.. The chances of surviving hodgkins in the 60’s was around 75% and wasn’t the end for my Grandma, she lived to fight another day. Moving on in her life,She spent most of her time studying, she graduated high school on the top of her class, then going to college of hamilton for business. During that time, she had my mom and my Aunt Heather on the way.

The Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems is a model created by psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner that refers to five structures of which an individual interacts with that impacts their development. The structures are referred to as systems in the model and there are five systems: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, Chronosystem.

Along with being supportive, my grandpa is one of the most selfless people I know. Whenever my family needs help with anything he is the first person we call because we know that if anyone can do it, or is willing to do it, it’s him. My dad owns a landscaping and plowing business, so he is always wearing down his trucks, causing them to break down a lot. Papa is always up to the challenge of fixing them, even though he never has to. One thing that is really important to him is family, he has always, always put family first.

Urie Bronfenbrenner presented his theory of ecological systems in 1979. In his theory, Bronfenbrenner claims that there are four systems that work in concert with one another to affect the behavior of an individual (Lobb, 2016). The four systems that Bronfenbrenner posed were the microsystem, relatable to one’s home, the mesosystem, considered one’s home and school, the exosystem, which are organizations outside of school, and the macrosystem, which involves the government. While the fourth system is not quite present in Craig’s life, the other three are readily recognizable.

I lived with my grandmother for the first half of my life. She practically raised me. Everyone in our village would talk about how much she spoiled me. She would go out of her way to get what I needed. One day I was playing with my friends, there was food in the house but I just wanted to eat snacks. I complained and whined about it until I got what I wanted she made my uncle go all the way into the city to buy me some snacks even though I could’ve just eaten what was in the house. She was a part of me. We had so much in common. My mom wasn't unable to raise me because she was living in America.

     Due to the fact that my father was now on his own and trying to raise three children (my older brother from my father’s first marriage), he had to take a different position at his work. Although he was getting a raise it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. He had to start working the night shift so he could get the raise. He didn’t really have a choice in the matter and because of this new change, I began to lose valuable time with him as well. It was now up to my brother to watch over us at night and make sure we got to bed on time. If there was any trouble or and problems in general, my brother would call my grandmother. For three years my dad worked that job and every night he would stay up after he got home to see us. He would make my sister and I breakfast and make we were off to school on time. This meant the world to me because no matter what he always made time for us.

The second stage of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory is the Mesosystem. The Mesosystem is a system comprising the connections between immediate environments (i.e., a child’s home and school). The Mesosystem provides the connection between the structures of the child’s Microsystem (Berk, 2000). Examples consist of the connection between the child’s teacher and his parents, and between his church and his neighborhood. For example, if a child's caregivers