Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

Contemporary Theories

• Explores Ecological Systems, and Social ontogenesis
• Touches on Moral Development

Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

• Born in Russia on April 29, 1917
• Immigrated to the US when he was 6
• Enlisted in the US Army after completing his PhD
• He co-founded the Head Start program, designed for at-risk nursery students
• Died on September 25, 2005
• Development results from relationships between people and environmental systems, as well as the interrelationships among those systems
• Child development cannot be evaluated by only looking at the immediate environment
• Interactions among the larger environments a child develops in must be examined
• Key inquiry: "How does the world around the child help or hinder development?"
• The belief is that the natural environment is a major influence on developing individuals
• Development reflects the effects of five environmental systems
• Genetic makeup and environmental forces interact to shape development
• Bioecological theory was introduced in 1995
• The ecological model views the environment as a series of nested structures
• Microsystem refers to relationships between the child and their immediate surroundings
• Mesosystem refers to connections among the child's immediate settings
• Exosystem is defined as social settings that affect the child but don't contain them
• Macrosystem is the overarching ideology of the culture
• Variables to which a child is directly exposed
• They Consists of family, school, religious institutions, and neighborhood
• Most direct interaction with social agents like parents, teachers, and peers, the most influential being family
• Person helps to construct developmental setting
• Including Geographic, Material structures and also Child's body
• Including general health, brain function (psychological and physiological), emotions and cognitive system
• Most behavior is learned in the microsystem
• Consists of bi-directional influences
• Can affect child's development
• Parents actively shape the development of the child
• Children actively shape their environment
• Personal attributes influence responses from other people
• Children actively select and avoid specific environments
• Form the foundation for a child's cognitive and emotional growth
• Refers to the interconnections or interrelationships among microsystems like homes, schools, and peer groups
• Strong supportive links between Microsystems optimize development
• Non-supportive links between Microsystems can cause issues
• Includes Structures or institutions of society in which the child does not have direct contact but are indirectly affected
• Including parents' work environment and funding for education
• A child's development is influenced by these structures in the microsystem
• It shapes and consists of culture, subculture, or social class context
• In which microsystems, mesosystems, and exosystems are embedded
• Provides the values, beliefs, customs, and laws of the culture in which a child grows up
• Influences how parents, teachers, and others raise a child
• May be conscious or unconscious
• Broad, overarching ideology that dictates how children should be treated
• Also dictates what they should be taught and the goals for which they should strive
• It Influences the societal values, legislation, and financial resources provided by a society to help families function
• These values differ across cultures
• Pertains to patterns of environmental events and transitions over a life course and sociohistorical circumstances
• Changes in the child or in any of the ecological contexts of development can affect the direction of development
• Biological and cognitive changes can contribute to conflict between young adolescents and their parents
• Effects of environmental changes also depend upon the age of the child
• The theory recognizes that this influences their children's behavior and childrearing practices
• Stresses that children influence their parents
• Families are complex social systems that include interrelated parts that contribute to the function of the whole
• Families are dynamic or changing systems
• They are embedded within larger cultural and subcultural contexts
• The ecological niche a family occupies, like religion, can affect family interactions and the development of children
• The 4 layers of relationships have properties
• Each layer of this complex environment has an effect on a child’s development
• Conflict within one layer can affect all layers
• Complexity results from the maturation of a child's physical and cognitive structures
• Society must support the importance of these roles to nurture the relationships
• Lack of these elements are risk factors for optimal child development
• Instability in modern family life can be destructive to a child's development
• Workplace demands can cause a lack of mutual interactions with important figures
• Those lacking a strong primary relationship will find unhealthy affirmations in adolescence
• Its best for society to act to create political and economic policies to support parent's roles
• Contributes a richer description of the environment than other theories
• Integrates multiple influences and advanced studying this in natural settings
• It suggests ways to optimize development
• Lacks the specificity to create specific biological contributors as mechanisms for development
• Education should also foster respect in work for children's development

Implications For Education

• Teacher's need to create a child-adult relationship
• Schools must nurture families
• Education should value attitudes of all work done on behalf of children

Social Ontogenesis: Bame Nsamenang, 1992

• Developed by an African researching the African people in Nso, Cameroon.
• Nsamenang was born in Cameroon in 1951
• He Earned degrees in Nursing, Education, and Clinical Child Psychology
• Studied at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Motivation

• Existing theories were inadequate and Euro-American centric.
• Western cultures emphasize academic integration, African cultures focus on socialization.
• The theory posits is that a person's development is based on collectivist principles
• Socialization is not organized for academic pursuits but to teach how to function in a family system
• A theory is needed to give more attention to where a person is developing

His Research

• It set out to discover how the Nso children acquired cultural competence
• The Nso people are a people of the Bamenda Grassfields in Cameroon
• Patterns of education emerged that consisted of: Observation, imitation, attention to stories, and co-participation
• This affirms that their socialization is active and emphasized what they are responsible for in society, not verbalizations and individuality
• An ideology visualizes phases of human cyclical ontogenesis of systematic socialization
• Knowledge is interwoven into society taught at different development stages
• Consists of: Agriculture, economics, arts, and science
• This knowledge includes all aspects of life in a single curriculum
• Children learn by discovering through participation, instead of instruction
• The curriculum fits different milestones of development the culture recognizes
• Determined by social systems and ecology that shapes learning
• Participation in cultural transformations influences development
• Child development is a Social integration
• Children are co-participants that individuate and levels of personhood are developed by social and culture experiences
• Human beings need other humans and social responsibility to attain full personhood
• Paradigm is built by interdependent needs
• Social integration is achieved through biology
• Development is when Children are co-participants in social and cultural life
• Sociogenesis is viewed and explained as a social function, not biological
• Growth in family through experiences is how development is defined
• Human's personality will search for their individual
• An African model is built on 3 phases that consist of various stages of selfhood
• Followed by: Societal Roles and lastly, Passing of Life to the ancestors, the Spiritual Self
• Neonates are in the initial period
• The focus is happiness and gifts and the projections of the future
• Naming ceremonies are determining their expectations
• The socialized being will project how the neonate will become
• Infancy focuses on social priming
• There are pre-social milestones for communication
• Infants are nurtured and given gifts that they are taught verbally to return
• Preliminary steps for bonding are set
• The 3rd stage is child hood where apprentices are developed
• Initiated into social roles and preparing for life
• Social roles pertain networks and the role of parenting is primed
• Next Pubery/social enteree and secondary sex characteristics
• Adolescence has preparation for adulthood and internship
• Adulthood is a phase that focuses on starting families and marriage
• Lastly, Old age happens when there is social competence among grand children

Cultural Content

• Cognitive development is the abilities people need to engage with the world better
• A marker of intelligent people is their ability to be routine and capture learning instead of doing other instruments
• Chores are allocated to show responsibilities in households
• The measure of competence is known as 'tumikila' and it means the people will trust the children if this competence of routine is met
• Trusting children with these tasks will reward them and show responsibilities
• The long-term history will show their ability to be socially integrated
• Parents determine behavior is responsible
• This will give them more freedom and respect, therefore, they become socially integrated
• The comparison show the collective difference that other theories do not
• Piaget shows how people adapt to the environment because they are actively seeking

Implications

• A learner brings to the environment the skills they gained in the culture that they understand
• Instructors should know about the cultures of the students their teaching to be effective
• Children should have a safe place like early childhood centers
• The learners should become skilled partners that are working with peers

Moral Development

• Includes societal norms in the interactions between people
• Development examines the nature of people

Lawrence Kohlberg, 1927-1987

• Born in New York in 1927
• He helped smuggle Jews and studied into becoming a moral figure
• He studied at the University of Chicago
• Developed his Moral theory of development mostly from older historic figures
• Human beings developed psychologically that was emphasized by others
• He had a tropical disease that made him depressed
• He committed suicide
• He developed his stages of moral development and used them to study children with moral dilemmas

Moral Example

Woman was near death and a new drug could cure her, but the druggist was selling it for ten times the cost to make.

• Should heinz have stolen the new durog?
• Was it right or wrong to steal?
• Is it the husband's job to steal the drug?
• Would a good husband steal?
• Does a druggist have the rights to charge that much?
• Heinz tested 100 children in different environments to evaluate his moral theory of development
• The levels of moral development are:
  • Level one pre conventional
  • Level 2, Conventional
  • Level 3 Post Conventional

Level 1 Moral

• Most primitive state of thinking
• Does not have to have a conscience and is egocentric
• Stage 1 is reward and punishment, the main concern is avoiding the consequences
• They will do anything with reward or ethics
• They are likely to say that Heinz should steal because others will be upset if he did not

Level 2 Moral

• Childern work to recieve rewards
• This is a 'market place' orientation and they help friends reciprocally
• Conventional Stage where there is adherence to ethics and societal laws.

Level 3 Moral

• Want social approval
• Children want to be seen with people
• Want to adopt and show social approval by friends and family
• In this case, a child will steal if he wants approval but will be labeled a criminal
• Laws are the guiding principles and approval is disregarded
• They say it's against the law, mostly people remain here

Level 4 Moral

• The person does not rely on just on the laws
• They Recognize that there are better ways and make alternative solutions
• Stage 5 follows Social contracts with the belief to follow and follow laws
• In this case, they will change their mindset and think of how it helps society as whole
• They may go against the law if it is unjust

Level 5 Moral

• High Stage
• If selected or not they follow principles, such as societal norms and accept universal values
• In the moral situation, they will take risks and follow their conscience.