A great deal of consideration needs to go into preparing a child for the change that occurs when going from a home/child care atmosphere into a school environment. The Teacher needs to consider the child in its entirety throughout the changeover to scholarly activities. This must include the child’s physical readiness, socio-emotional, and cognitive abilities for learning. It is equally essential to discover ways in which to involve the children's first and most important teachers, their families. The families have the most information about their child's strengths, weaknesses as well as the challenges the child faces. Being able to communicate with the families is vital to teachers in collecting in depth information about their students in order to be better equipped to meet the needs of the children.
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory “looks at children’s development within the context of the systems of relationships that form their environment.” (MORRISON, 2009) This theory describes multifaceted tiers within the environment, where each layer has a specific influence upon a child’s development.
Within Bronfenbrenner theory there are five interconnecting ecological systems:
I. Microsystem: this tier is the closest one to the child and consists of the things the child has direct interactions with. It includes all the relationships and contacts the child has with their immediate surroundings, such as family, neighborhood, school, and childcare settings. There are two directions in which these relationships within this tier impacts the child, towards and away from the child. For instance: a child’s parents influence their actions and beliefs; then again, the child likewise influences the beliefs and actions of the pare...
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...ts them know how important it is and how much their parents care about them and their education.
Works Cited
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MORRISON, G. S. (2009). URIE BRONFENBRENNER AND ECOLOGICAL THEORY. In G. S. MORRISON, Early Childhood Education Today 11th. Edition (p. 129). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
MORRISON, G. S. (2009). URIE BRONFENBRENNER AND ECOLOGICAL THEORY. In G. S. MORRISON, Early Childhood Education Today 11th. Edition (p. 131). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
Ryan, D. P.–J. (2001, 12 07). Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. Retrieved 06 27, 2011, from National-Louis University's PT3 Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology.: http://pt3.nl.edu/paquetteryanwebquest.pdf
Microsystem. There are several immediate factors acting on the individual. This nearest level of the system is known as the microsystem that directly interacts with the individual. This system might include forces such as family, peers, school, or religion. (Video 1)
Hedges, Helen. ""You Don't Leave Babies on Their Own": Children's Interests in Early Childhood Education." Early Education. Ed. Janet B. Mottely and Anne R. Randall. New York: Nova Science, 2009. N. pag. Print.
Bronfenbrenner theorised that there are many different influences that affect a child’s development, forming 5 systems to categorise certain events, or environments into. This theory helps me to understand the theme of Nature Vs Nurture, as it gives some context as to what environments can affect a child's development. From this, we can work out solutions for each child's situation, to ensure that their development is still progressing.
Early childhood education, although constantly evolving, was actually established and practiced as early on as the times of Ancient Greece and Rome. The foundation that early childhood education is based upon is to instill in children the skills needed to succeed later on in life, while making sure young children enjoy their time in schooling. Throughout chapter 3 in the textbook Who Am I in the Lives of Children, the reader is capable of evaluating just how greatly the methods for teaching today’s youth have evolved and changed for the better.
(Hyson, 2008) In her book, she stated that once the child was born, they are already connected with the world. According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, he emphasized that children are not only being affected but also they are affecting those that surrounds them. The members of those settings are also connected and influenced one another, he called this theory as ecological system theory. The ecological system theory was used by Marilou Hyson as a framework on the factors that influences the children’s approaches to learning and she named it as “Circle of Influence on Children’s Approaches to Learning”. The “Circle of Influence on Children’s Approaches to Learning” includes the family, school, culture, politics and policies. She believed that the family
McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Looking at child development from a biological perspective is a tactic very popular throughout the scientific community (Gardner, 2005). Many theories, such as the maturational theory and ethological theory, help to enforce the biological theory, which states that development is determined primarily by biological forces (McNamara, 2011). After exploring Jerry and Samantha’s development, specifically social progress, through a biological lens, much rationality is apparent as to why these two first graders experience dif...
Williams, Leslie R. and Doris Pronin Fromberg, ed. Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992.
Morrison, G. S. (1976). Chapter 6: Early Childhood Programs APPLYING THEORIES TO PRACTICE. In Early childhood education today (10th ed., pp. 5-31). Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory will be applied throughout this essay to delve into the reasoning behind particular behavioural issues. According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, an individual has multiple environments known as their ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Bronfenbrenner (1994) suggests that a developing child is influenced by the relationships surrounding them and the best way to understand a child’s behaviour is to look at the numerous aspects of the child’s environment and how they interact with each other. The relationships and environments that the child interacts with have been separated into layers known as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the overarching chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The microsystem is the environment where the child has direct face-to-face relationships such as at home, day care and school (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The relationships formed within the microsystem directly impact the development of a child (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). It is through the processes of repeated interactions with people, objects and symbols that the human develops (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The second layer in the ecological model is the mesosystem, which is the interaction between two of the microsystems such as the relationship between a parent and a teacher (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The exosystem is an external environment, with which the
Smith P.J., Cowie, H., & Blades, M. (2003). Understanding Children’s Development (4th ed.). London, UK: Blackwell Publishing. (Chapter 15 covers the work of Vygotsky, Bruner and Call)
In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, there are five systems that ultimately influence an individual. The first system is the microsystem, which consists of the people who have direct contact to an individual. In my own life, my immediate family consists of my mother and I. I am an only child to my mother and since my mother and my father have been separated since I was a baby, he has not been part of my microsystem. In addition, I am also a student at CCP. I have a network of friends whom I keep in close contact with. The people that I encounter at home, school, and work have direct contact with me and thus, they are part of my microsystem.
Social ecological perspectives are often described as a web of relationships (k218, Learning guide 3, 3.1). They make us aware that each individual has many defining factors making up who they are. Social ecological perspectives have the child/young person at the centre and show how they are connected to the family, community and society as a whole. They demonstrate the layers that go into making the individual and show that everybody has a unique set of circumstances that affect the person they are, their achievements, social standing and even their health. Social ecological perspectives give us the opportunity to quantify these factors and offer a tool to collate the data, giving us the chance to see how factors such as employment, housing or demographic area can affect life chances in both the short and long term. Social economic perspectives tell us that to fully understand the individual we must also understand their environment and how they are connected to it. Rather than just looking at the child or young person on a standalone basis we must look at what factors affect their behaviour, where they are living, what the home or community environment is like and try to respond appropriately to this.
The Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory focuses on how ones environment can affect a person’s development. It focuses on 5 main areas namely the Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem and Chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, p. 514-515). Each system represents the setting in which they live in and how these people affect their growth. In this particular case study, Andy’s main influence is from the Microsystem and Mesosystem.
Craig, G. J., & Dunn, W. L. (Ex.: 2010). Understanding human development (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.