Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model

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

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model deemed a child’s growth and development as influenced by everything in their surrounding environment and vice versa. He referred to the various levels of the person's environment as the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem which are a set of structures where one layer is contained inside the next and so forth.

Urie Bronfenbrenner as with many other contextual perspective theorists’ views families as structures of relating individuals. This can be explained by how both the parents and children play a part in influencing the other. Bronfenbrenner takes the proposed general theories a step further by adding two very important factors. These two factors are genes (Bio) and the environment (Ecology) in which the child develops in. The two factors as mentioned previously are the foundation of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Bronfenbrenner details the environment factor by his theories five major components: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, microsystem, and chronosystem.

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.

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.

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

The Microsystem refers to the environment that has a direct influence on an individual; school, home, place of worship, teachers, and peers are included in the Microsystem. A personal example is that my mother, an extremely prominent figure in any person’s Microsystem, noticed that I had a rather good potential for working on creative stories. As a direct influence on me, she gave me praise on the stories that I showed her and gave me encouragement to continue working on my writing. Therefore, she directly influenced my psychological development since her praise heightened my self-esteem and allowed me to have a good self-image of myself thanks to the environment I was raised in.

Micro system is an individual (Kirst-Ashman & Karen K., 2014, p.24). An individual system is made up of their “emotions, personality, beliefs, behavior, interests, goals strengths and weakness that make a person unique (Kirst-Ashman,el, al, 2014, p.24). My micro system consists of factors that have made me who I am today. I am the youngest out of nine children. My parents had only wanted eight children, but I was an accidental case, which is why I have a twenty years age difference with my oldest siblings. I have five sisters who have gone to college and graduated with a degree in business and administration; while three of my brothers have graduated with their high school degrees and my parents have not obtained any degree, they only

In ecological theory, these systems are nested with the child at the core, embedded within his/her immediate family environment. The system with the closest proximity to the child is the microsystem; this includes the child and family, peers, neighborhood and school. A critical impact on development occurs within the immediate environment of the child due to proximal

Mariam’s microsystem consists of her family, which includes her husband Norman, her daughters Mary Catherine and Sarah. Odessa would be considered part of her microsystem as well and I believe she would fall into the peer category. Mariam is also very active in her community and has many peers that she socializes with and groups that she participates in, such as Jr. League, and club luncheons. The media also plays a role in her microsystem through the television and more specifically the news broadcast they would watch.

I sometimes watch a show called “Roseanne”. In this show there are three children and a mother and a father. In the show the mother was working two jobs and the father worked one. The children were home a lot to fin for themselves. In this episode I saw several parts of the Bioecological Model of Human Development. If we look at the microsystems there are several components. Which were the child, family, school and the community. In the episode the mom had to go and interact with the school (Mesosystem) because one of the children were not behaving in school. The teacher made an assumption about of the child’s behavior and thought that the child was acting out due to the parents not getting along. The mother in the show got mad and took it out on the teacher which in turn created negativity in the child’s eyes because the teacher was

The next level in the system is the mesosystem showing the impact of the interaction of the different structures in the microsystem in the development of the child (Belgrave & Allison 239). The essence of the mesosytem is providing a connection between the microsystem players such as the teacher and the parents, of the church and neighborhood, thus making the impact more profound. Oswalt gives an example of a parent or caregiver taking an active role in a child’s school interactions such as attending matches and parent-teacher conferences thus ensuring overall growth. An involved parent within this example is likely to have a positive impact, while disagreeing parents and caregivers may give conflicting lessons hindering holistic growth. The third stage of Bronfenbrenner model is the exosystem level, which encompasses other people and places that have an impact on the child’s growth despite the child not having a direct interaction with these people or places. The exosytem level contains the larger society such as parent workplaces, community-based resources, which may negatively or positively influence on the child although they do not have a direct interaction with the places. For example, the workplace affects the child’s growth by ensuring providence, meaning that if a parent is laid off the child

The microsystem refers to the activities, social roles and interpersonal relationships experienced by the individual in a face-to-face setting in their immediate environment. Examples of a microsystem include a child interacting with school friends and family. The mesosystem makes reference to the connections between the different aspects of the microsystem, for example the links between family and the work environment as the work environment can affect the family environment. The exosystem refers to the links between two or more settings with at least one of the settings not directly influencing the person, for example, the workplace of a parent and the home environment. The macrosystem is the overarching paradigms of the micro-, meso and exosystems. The macrosystem is the

Brofenbrenner believed that development was shaped by the interactions between other individuals in the child’s environment. The system consists of five layers of interaction. The first one is the microsystem which is the system of individuals that the child has direct and immediate contact with. This includes family members, teacher and friends at school, and other people within the child’s neighborhood. The way individuals in this system interact with the child affects how the child grows and develops and the way the child interacts with the individuals in this system will affect how they treat the child. One important aspect of this system is that siblings in the same system can experience different environments. The second system is the mesosystem. This system is how the various parts of the microsystem interact with one another. Such as how the child’s home and school interact and how the family and the child’s friend group interact. Whether or not these parts of the system interact positively or negatively can affect the child’s development. I have seen this first-hand at work. The parents who are more involved with the school usually have the children that are overall more happy and wanting to be at school. The third system is the exosystem, the people and environments in this system may not interact directly with the child but still impacts their development. This can include the parent’s workplace and extended family members. For instance if a parent is having a difficult time at work, they may take it out on the child. The fourth system is the macrosystem which is the largest and also the most distant group of people but still have influence over the child’s development. This includes the child’s economics and political status and beliefs as well as their cultures beliefs. Children raised in areas of war will develop differently than those of

Bronfenbrenner 's ecological systems theory describes “a child’s development within the context of the system of relationships that form his or her environment” (Paquette & Ryan, 2001, p. 1). Notably, Bronfenbrenner was the cofounder of the head start program. Most recently, researchers have changed the name of ecological systems to bioecological systems to show the importance of a child’s own biological environment. The child’s biology was found to be a fundamental factor of their environment and also development (Paquette & Ryan, 2001). The theory is composed of complex environmental levels, which influences the child’s overall development. To clarify, Bronfenbrenner developed three levels or systems, which includes (a) microsystem, (b) mesosystem, and (c) exosystem (Paquette & Ryan, 2001). The microsystem covers those elements a child has direct interactions with, such as their family, school, or daycare. The mesosystem is comprised of the child’s indirect environment, such