The Bronfenbrenner’s Theory is defined as describing the nested social and cultural contexts that shape development. Every person develops within a mircosystem, inside a mesosystem, embedded in a exosystem, all of which are part of the macrosystem of the culture (according to the textbook). I found a journal article in Journal of Instructional Psychology explaining the Ecological Model and the importance of teachers to understand the different relationships that impact development. The journal article describes the Bronfenbrenner’s model and how it works in a school.
The Mircosystem is the innermost level and refers to the immediate interactions and influences of a person’s surroundings. In the classroom it means that mentors, administrators, and peers play active role in both interaction and influence of a child. It also includes family which is another main source of relationship in the mircosystem. Children can pick up behaviors from these sources but can also distribute their own behavior onto others. The relationships are bidirectional and reciprocal.
The Mesosystem is all interactions and influences within the mircosystem. It is support within a larger environment. An example of this would be teacher meetings with parents which could influence the parents and then the parents could influence the child. The Exosystem is the social settings that do not involve the candidate (child) but affect their experiences in immediate settings either formal or informal in a social network. The article pointed out how work can be significance in affecting one’s personal relationship with family.
A example could be a parent who works long hours may have less time to be involved in their child’s education. It can come from other factors such as teacher/administration relationships, school board, community resources for health, employment, recreation, or religion. The Macrosystem is the outermost level of the mircosystem and refers to the values, laws, and customs of a particular cultural. It is the larger society. The priority that the Macrosytem gives will affect the support given.
The article states that Bronfenbrenner emphasized that change at the Marcosystem is important because it affects all other environmental levels, revising established values and programs in ways more favorable to development and the well being of the candidate. The article said interaction at any level of the Mircosystem can enhance development. The article was similar to what we learned in the textbook reading. It explained the stages in the same way but put more emphasis from a educational standpoint. I learned that at any interaction at any level can enhance development and the Macrosystem affects all other environmental levels.
I agree with the article that each environmental level plays role and the interaction is needed in order to develop. I feel Brofenbrenner’s model is correct on how much social context and influences plays part in how we develop. Article info: AUTHOR:Laura D. Tissington TITLE:A Bronfenbrenner Ecological Perspective on the Transition to Teaching for Alternative Certification SOURCE:Journal of Instructional Psychology 35 no1 106-10 Mr 2008 http://vnweb. hwwilsonweb. com. ezproxy. roanestate. edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe. jhtml? _DARGS=/hww/results/results_common. jhtml. 43
