Urie Bronfenbrenner

By Bretten Allen and Alison McDowell

Assessment of Prior Knowledge

Who is Urie Bronfenbrenner?

What is he known for?
What is ecological theory?
Theoretical Concepts

Ecological Theory
Chronosystem
Macrosystem
Exosystem
Mesosystem
Microsystem
ACTIVITY TIME!
Microsystem

Immediate environment surrounding the individual

Family
School
Peers
Workplace
Childcare
Playground
Religious institutions
YouTube Clip

1:23:08 - 1:26:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaQHgVaeKrc
Mesosystem

Links between two different settings that the individual is in

Home and school
School and work
Work and leisure activities
Exosystem

Links between the individual and a setting that indirectly

affects them
Parents workplace
Welfare services
Friends of family
Changes of laws
Macrosystem

The characteristics that shape a culture

Belief systems
Resources
Life style
Customs
Knowledge
Chronosystem

Things that change or stay consistent over time

Economy/socioeconomic status
Civil rights
Family structure
Employment
Place of residence
Biographical Information

April 29, 1917 - September 25, 2005

Moved to the U.S. at age 6
Father worked as a
neuropathologist at a hospital for
the developmentally disabled
Education

Bachelors in Psychology and Music from

Cornell in 1938
Masters in Education from Harvard in 1940
Doctorate in Developmental Psychology
from University of Michigan in 1942
Military

Entered the U.S. Military the day after receiving his

doctorate
Served as a psychologist during WWII
Air Corps
Office of Strategic Services
Army Medical Corps
Work After the Military
Assistant chief clinical psychologist for the VA
Clinical Psychology Training Program in
Washington D.C.
Assistant professor at University of Michigan
Assistant professor at Cornell University
Focused on child development
Impact of social forces
Fun Facts
Wrote over 300 research papers
Wrote 14 books
Won the James McKeen Catell Award from the American
Psychological Society
Awarded for lifetime contribution to Developmental Psychology in
the service of science and society
Personal Life

Married Liese Price

Were married for 63 years
6 children
two sons: Michael and Steven
four daughters: Beth, Mary, Kate, Ann
13 grandchildren
One great grandchild
Died at age 88 due to complications with his Diabetes
Classroom Implications

Know your students!

What is going on in their life that might have an effect on classroom
behavior?
Everybodys life is different.
The settings/events in each sphere will be individualized.
 Work Outside Bronfenbrenners Theory
Appointed to a federal panel aout
development in impoverished children in
1964
Panel helped create Head Start in 1965
Co-founder of the National Head Start
Program
Part of Lyndon B. Johnsons War on
Poverty
Head Start

Overall Goal: promote school readiness of children ages birth

to five from low-income families by supporting their
development in a comprehensive way
How?
Reduce the effects of poverty of developing persons
Equal educational footing between all students
Caring about the children
Bronfenbrenners Influence on Head Start
Invited to the White House to discuss the issue with
First Lady Claudia Johnson
Looked at child care programs of other countries
Convinced the panel to focus efforts on involving
Childs Family
Community
Create a better environment for development
Helped develop their environmental intervention
methods
Family support services
Home visits
Education for parenthood
Critiques

Before Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists studied the child, sociologists

examined the family, anthropologists the society, economists the economic
framework of the times and political scientists the structure. - Cornell
Chronicle
Bronfenbrenners bioecological approach to human development
shattered barriers among the social sciences and forged bridges among the
disciplines that have allowed findings to emerge vital for developing the
potential of human nature. - Cornell Chronicle
Critiques

Contrary to the predominant view at the time

Child development was purely biological
Didnt think experience or environment were influential