Baylie Skawinski
Educational Psychology and Child Development
Final Paper
12/15/17
KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS
Bronfenbrenner’s model is a theory of educational psychology that studies human development over time. He came up with four ecological systems that an individual interacted with. Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. The first layer (microsystem) Is the first and immediate layer of the nested systems. It holds the human relationships and interactions with surroundings (ex. Parents, siblings, school environment). The second layer (mesosystem) is relationships between the family and school teachers or administrators (direct interaction). The third layer is the exosystem (extended family, neighborhoods, mass media, parents work environment). The fourth layer (macrosystem) is thought to be all-encompassing. This encompasses cultural and societal beliefs and programming that influence development (ex. Gender norms). Teacher’s, families, and peers are a part of the total situation that surrounds and interacts with a student’s thoughts, feeling, and actions to shape development and learning. The interaction that my case study student had at home, with peers, and my cooperating teacher had an effect on the development of her. My case study student lives in a low-income neighborhood. She attends a school that has many other low-income students who face economic diversity. She is an African American child, and the only African American child in her class. The language she speaks at home and in school is English. She is not a member of any teams outside of the classroom. All of these factors have an influence on her behavior, beliefs, and knowledge. My case study student lives at home with both of her parents. Her parents are permissive parents who have few rules and expect little from them. They are uninvolved in the school and her academics. Because of the parenting style her parents display, she is not extremely social with her peers. The attachment that Acacia has formed, is strong with her mother. She receives comfort from her mother and is more confident because she knows that she can count on her mom. Acacia has developed in a crowd peer group. This group is her classroom as a whole which is less intimate and loosely organized. The idea of structured recess keeps the children at Desmet elementary from interacting with other students outside of their own classroom. Their classroom promotes individuality, and they are so young that strong peer cultures are not seen yet. Acacia has a stronger personality and does not favor socializing with other students often. The friendships she has are not from her class at Desmet. She recently transferred to Desmet after kindergarten so she is still working on building the friendship with these new peers. Acacia would not be considered a popular or favored child in the classroom. My cooperating teacher has low expectations of acacia. Acacia displays little self-control in the classroom which...
