Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory on Child Development.

Hey folks, this is Brad Stucki, and
I'm excited to be here to share

with you a little bit of the things
that I've learned from this particular

theorist. I signed up for Urie
Bronfenbrenner and his

bioecological theory of child
development, and we've talked

about this a little bit already
in class, and so I'm excited to

build on what we've already
talked about. So here we go.

I'd like to start by sharing a little
bit of the overview of what

Bronfenbrenner taught and
what he studied. His work focuses

on the development of the child
with their environment, and so

it shows how the child interacts
with different systems and different

people, and how it affects them to
become who they end up being--

who their individual person is.
So we'll go ahead and we'll just

jump right into it. Okay, so the
first system is the microsystem.

This is the most simple. It is the
child interactions with their family,

with their peers, it is their individual,
personal relationships that they have

with one another that shape them
into who they are and who they become.

And so an example of this would be
the child learning from their parents

or from their teachers. It may be them
picking up their different social cues,

their laugh. It could be just observing
the parent, or listening to what they say

and copying those same standards
and so it's just the interaction

between those two-- the child
and the parent, or the child and

their teacher, the child and their
friends-- that helps them develop

into their individual person.
Okay, so the next one-- oh, so actually,

every time we talk about a system
I'm just gonna lay down a line that

has the definition of it, and I'll just
reiterate what it says, and so the

microsystem is just an interaction
or support between the individual

and their direct relationship,
like their parents.

So the next system is the
mesosystem, and this one

is a system of microsystems.
So a microsystem that's

like the parents, the friends,
the teachers, and the mesosystem

is the interaction between these
two microsystems. And the results

of those affects the child positively
or negatively. So here's an example

of the mesosystem. In this post,
you see that there are friends, and you

put them together with the parents,
like maybe they come over, and if they

have a negative reaction-- if they
disapprove of the friends, results in

the top part, where the child will
be sad, they may have a negative

development. They're pushing
against the parents, maybe have

negative feelings towards the
parents, whereas the bottom,

if the parents approve of the friends,
there's a positive development

where the child trusts the parents
more, trusts the friends more,

and this is positive all together.
And so that's an example of the

mesosystem and how the different
microsystems interact to affect the child.

And so that's the mesosystem, it's the
interaction between different microsystems

that affect the child. The exosystem
is the next step up from being further

away from the child. And so if you look
at the second line, it describes what the

exosystem is. It is people or places
that children may not directly interact

with, but still impact their lives.
And so, an example of this is the

community or the neighborhood
they grow up in, the government,

the church, their parents' workplace.
And certain examples.

And so the example of an exosystem,
the top one is a great example.

It's a father who is continually
passed up for a promotion by

an indifferent boss at the workplace,
who may take it out on his child and

mistreat them at home. And so the
child never interacted with the parent's

workplace, but received the results
of the stress and anger from the parent,

and so that's what an exosystem is.
And the bottom one talks about a

mother who leaves to go to the
military and the child develops

anxiety, even though she's never
been to her parent's workplace,

doesn't know why their parents are
leaving. And so that's the result of

the exosystem. And so the exosystem
is something-- an interaction, setting,

that does not involve the child but
still affects them.

Okay, and so the next one is the
macrosystem, and is described

as the effects of larger principles
defined by the macrosystem.

And so that's like cultural values,
religious values, customs, and laws,

and I guess also it includes the
mass media.

And so an example of that is culture--
culture's a collection of beliefs,

customs, and art, and people who
live in those customs are expected

to live certain ways. And so the
macrosystem affects the child

because of those cultures,
because of what they're

expected to live, and that
affects who they become

and the development of that
child. So like an example I use

is the societal culture where
the father's the breadwinner,

when that's not really the case
it is now, but it still affects the

child to maybe want to be
that breadwinner and to

not allow his wife to provide
for their family.

And so macrosystem is just the
effects of culture, religious beliefs,

their views and lifestyle of a child,
and so it helps develop that child

to become who they are.

The last one is the chronosystem,
and this one relates to time,

and so it's the passage of time
or the time and era that they live in

that affects the child. Like war-time,
depression, being a 'baby boomer'--

quote, unquote-- to the gen-Z,
millennials, and that depiction

affects how the child is seen and
also how they live.

And like an example of that is
the Great Depression. My grandmother

lived around the time of the
Great Depression, right after,

and she grew up never throwing anything
away, that she'd find every little use

of every single item that she bought
to use and use until it wore out.

So that is an example of the chronosystem
and how the time and era that you live in

affects who you are and what you
become. And so that's a chronosystem,

is the effect of time on the child, the
influence of time. And so now that we

understand all this, how does it affect
our teaching? And one of the articles

I found, it says, 'by studying the various
ecological systems, Bronfenbrenner's

ecological systems theory is able to
demonstrate the diversity of interrelated

influences on children's development.
Awareness of the contexts that children

are in can sensitize us to variations
in the way children may act in

different settings.' So as a teacher,
as we're aware of how the child's

development may be influenced
by these different systems, we can

do a better job in teaching and
being aware of our students

so that we can be the best teacher
that we can. That we can give them

individualized teaching that will
help the student.

And so that's what I got from
Bronfenbrenner's theory,

and hopefully it helps you as well
in helping to individualize your

students' teaching to help them
to have the best education and

development that they can have.

So here is the bibliography, and
I'm excited to hear what you guys

have to say, so thank you.