How does a child develop and grow and how are they affected by the world around them? One approach to answering this question is Brofenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Russian-born American developmental psychologist, was is convinced that an individual’s development is touched by everything in their surrounding environment. He split a person 's environment into four concentric circles, “Like a set of Russian dolls nested inside one another.” (Gonzalez-Mena, pg. 5) These levels are referred to as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and the macrosystem. A fifth level surrounds the sphere called the chronosystem, which represents time continuously affecting the other bands. I’ll be discussing each of these layers
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It consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person 's microsystem. The mesosystem is where a child’s individual microsystems connect. They may not have as much interaction with a child, but still wield considerable impact. These influences are interconnected and maintain sway upon one another, such as a conference between parents and a teacher. Some examples of a child’s mesosystem could be their school, neighborhood or religious group. My neighborhood was full of children and we were given the freedom to roam the streets. The only rules I remember were to stay within the neighborhood and be home for dinner. I remember watching TV by myself, but preferred imaginative play with my friends. The neighborhood furnished a protective place to explore and provided us with a sense of …show more content…
My father used to travel quite a bit for his job and visited exotic places like Tunisia and Peru. When I was seven, he was transferred overseas. We hopped on a plane, and traveled 5,000 miles to our new home. Everywhere we looked, things were different. Everyone around us spoke Spanish and stared at our blue eyes. Living in Bolivia gave me a greater sense of the world: it became both bigger and smaller all at once. I became open to new experiences, but was disheartened by the social class extremes that were all around me. Living overseas seeded the socially liberal values that I have today. Being at a new school was a turning point in my life because it gave me a fresh start. Everyone in my class was nice to me and my teacher gave me encouragement. I started doing well in school and was one of the better readers. Being free of the “dumb kid” stigma meant that I could breathe and grow! I actually started to enjoy school. Perhaps my special-education teacher had helped me break through my learning disability, but I’m convinced that it was purely the change in my social
It consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person 's microsystem. The mesosystem is where a child’s individual microsystems connect. They may not have as much interaction with a child, but still wield considerable impact. These influences are interconnected and maintain sway upon one another, such as a conference between parents and a teacher. Some examples of a child’s mesosystem could be their school, neighborhood or religious group. My neighborhood was full of children and we were given the freedom to roam the streets. The only rules I remember were to stay within the neighborhood and be home for dinner. I remember watching TV by myself, but preferred imaginative play with my friends. The neighborhood furnished a protective place to explore and provided us with a sense of …show more content…
My father used to travel quite a bit for his job and visited exotic places like Tunisia and Peru. When I was seven, he was transferred overseas. We hopped on a plane, and traveled 5,000 miles to our new home. Everywhere we looked, things were different. Everyone around us spoke Spanish and stared at our blue eyes. Living in Bolivia gave me a greater sense of the world: it became both bigger and smaller all at once. I became open to new experiences, but was disheartened by the social class extremes that were all around me. Living overseas seeded the socially liberal values that I have today. Being at a new school was a turning point in my life because it gave me a fresh start. Everyone in my class was nice to me and my teacher gave me encouragement. I started doing well in school and was one of the better readers. Being free of the “dumb kid” stigma meant that I could breathe and grow! I actually started to enjoy school. Perhaps my special-education teacher had helped me break through my learning disability, but I’m convinced that it was purely the change in my social