Module 6 PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
-Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not
simply of repeating what other generations have done- men who are creative, inventive and
discoverers.”
-Jean Piaget
CHALLENGE
In this Module, the students are expected to:
➢ Describe Piaget’s stages in your own words.
➢ Conduct a simple Piagetian Task interview with children.
➢ Match learning activities to the learner’s cognitive stage.
SENSORI-MOTOR STAGE
Infants should develop object permanence meaning to create mental representations or
images of things to understanding and communicate than just merely motioning. They use
basic movements and senses to gather information from experiences. Notice how children
begins to have preferences; they whine when fed with food they don’t like the taste. Because
these informations are suppose to be imbebbed in the cognitive from the experience of their
sense of taste and they have the chance to process it the next time they encounter that
certain thing. They know that the certain taste exists in that food without even tasting it first.
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
Since the child’s mental representations are enabled and enhanced. Children are still building
their object permanence but should continue to develop abstract way of thinking. Meaning
developing a more sophisticated language skills, and representations from more enhanced
understanding. To create their own symbolic mental imagery from objects they experienced
or things that happened in the past. For example drawing their own characters from other
references, creating a play with their own added rules. Also for example, they would not
understand illusion of certain objects but only believe of what they primarily experience. The
thinking may become more complex but still they are stuck with their own perspective and
unable to process other point of views.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
Children should learn to have more logical understanding of objects their senses experience
and builds and masters abstract thoughts; they become more rational and less egocentric.
Like how Riley from the movie Inside Out was able to join the Ice Hockey the fact that the
games requires rationality and logical understanding tells that Riley’s cognitive capabilities
enhanced. Children can classify differences and understand abstract concepts.
THE FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE
In this stage children should already be able to improve in logical thinking, understanding
concepts and solve problems. Children must know to analyze their environment and be able
to use rationality beyond their logical understanding and create theories, come up with
solutions and make conclusion from existing informations they experience.
INTRODUCTION Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a classic in the field
of educational psychology. This theory fuelled other researchers and theories of development
and learning. Its focus is on how individuals construct knowledge.
DEFINITION
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY
➢ Children “construct” their understanding of the world through their active involvement
and interactions. ➢ Studied his 3 children to focus not on what they knew but how they
knew it. ➢ Described children’s understanding as their “schemas” and how they use
• Assimilation
• Accommodation
• Equilibration
SCHEMA
-Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually
adapt to and organize their environment. It is an individual’s way to understand or create meaning
about a thing or experience.
ASSIMILATION
-This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing or previously created cognitive
structure or schema. If the child sees another dog, this time a little smaller one, he would make sense
of what he is seeing by adding this new information (a different looking dog) into his schema of a dog.
ACCOMMODATION
-This is the process of creating a new schema. If the same child now sees another animal that looks a
little bit like a dog, but somehow different. He might try to fit it into his schema of a dog, and say, “Look
mommy, what a funny looking dog. Its bark is funny too!” Then the mommy explains. “That’s not a funny
looking dog, that’s a goat! With mommy’s further descriptions, the child will now create a new schema,
that of a goat. He now adds a new file in his filling cabinet.
EQUILIBRATION
-Piaget believed that that people have the natural need to understand how the world works and to find
order, structure, and predictability in their life. Equilibration is achieving proper balance between
assimilation and accommodation. When our experiences do not match our schemata (plural of schema)
or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium. This means there is a discrepancy
between what is perceived and what is understood. We then exert effort through assimilation and
accommodation to establish equilibrium once more.
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT STAGES
SENSORI-MOTOR STAGE
is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touch
PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
the infant uses his senses and motor abilities to understand the world
the child uses mental representations of objects and is able to use symbolic thought and language.
SYMBOLIC FUNCTION- between the ages of 2 and 4, a child can perform Symbolic Functions or
think about objects even though they are not real or present.
CENTRATION - is the tendency to focus on one salient aspect of a situation and neglect other,
possibly relevant aspects.
INTUITIVE THOUGHT- means having the ability to understand or know something without any
direct evidence or reasoning process.
ANIMISM- is the belief that objects that are inanimate (not living) have feelings, thoughts, and have
the mental characteristics and qualities of living things. They are attaching human qualities and
feelings to an inanimate object.
TRANSDUCTIVE REASONING - involves seeing a relationship between two things that are not actually
related. Your child may be using transductive reasoning if she tells you that an orange is a ball.
Because both the ball and the orange are round, her transductive reasoning tells her that they both
must be a ball.
EXPERIMENTAL TASK -In this task, a child is presented with two identical beakers containing the same
amount of liquid. The child usually notes that the beakers do contain the same amount of liquid. When
one of the beakers is poured into a taller and thinner container, children who are younger than seven or
eight years old typically say that the two beakers no longer contain the same amount of liquid, and that
the taller.
EGOCENTRISM- is the inability to differentiate between self and other. Container holds the larger
quantity(centration), without taking into consideration the fact that both beakers were previously noted to
contain the same amount of liquid. Due to superficial changes, the child was unable to comprehend that
the properties of the substances continued to remain the same (conservation).
CONCRETE OPERATIONS STAGE
REVERSIBILITY- which refers to the ability
to recognize that numbers or objects can
be changed and returned to their original
condition
FORMAL OPERATIONS STAGE
s 7-11; the child uses logical operations or principles when solving problems.
SERIATION- which refers to the ability to sort objects or situations according to any characteristic, such
as size, color, shape, or type
CLASSIFICATION- is the ability to identify the properties of categories, to relate categories or classes to
one another, and to use categorical information to solve problems.
- is the understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes.
To be more technical conservation is the ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect
its mass, number, volume or length.
DECENTERING (also known as Decentration) refers to the ability to consider multiple aspects of a
situation. In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the third stage is called Concrete Operational
stage, where a child age 7-12 shows increased use of logic. One of the logical processes that develop
is that of Decentering choose based on how one flavor is better than the other even though the other is
the same size and color the ability to use abstractions
HYPOTHETICAL REASONING- This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis about a problem
and to gather and weigh data in order to make a final decision or judgement.
ANALOGICAL REASONING- This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance and then
use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar situation or problem.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING- This is the ability to think logically by applying a general rule to a
particular instance or situation.
APPLICATION
This activity focuses on a story involving the interaction of family members. Choose a story you
want to use for this activity. It can be from a story you have read or a movie or “telenovela” that you
watched or plan to watch. Use the matrix below to relate the characters to Piaget’s stages of Cognitive
Development.
Title of Story/ Movie: Inside Out (2015)
Write a brief summary of the story
During Riley’s birth it was shown in the movies that the first time she opened her eyes and saw
her parents she immediately giggled but later on whined and cried probably because of discomfort from
being held or the parents hovering above her face, then she created a new memory and that was
sadness after joy. This explains the sensorimotor stage where a child forms knowledge through her
senses. On her infancy frame it was also showed when she was hyperly running around inside their home
with her cart but eventually stops when she saw a plug wire in her way probably signaling her brain to
stop before she might stumble because of it logically telling that maybe from her pat experience of
stumbling she knew she would feel pain if she did not stop and walk across the wire carefully instead. A
stored knowledge from her experience allowed her to know what might happen even before she could try
it, the feeling continued to exist even without it happening just yet. One scenario was also shown where
her father tried to feed her broccoli which she knows she doesn’t like the taste of; a knowledge also
stored inside her mind from experiences through her senses. Her father told her that he wouldn’t get
dessert if she did not eat the vegetable then she started shouting probably thinking that the act would let
her get an opportunity to make her father stop feeding the veggy or force her to give her dessert. It tells
that she knows her action can cause change in the situations and these are just some of the examples of
the characteristics of this stage.
Riley begins to understand some of the things that are happening in her surroundings. She began
to store terms of relationship during her early childhood stage. She understood that people around her
who she likes to talk with or spent her time with playing on their front yard skipping on pavements was
friendship. It was shown that with her family she created many aspects within her family. The time where
she studied with her parents most likely made her create this role in her mind that they are her teacher
when she tries to learn and understand something. Also she most likely created another role of the
parents as her playmate because she knows there are times when she feels like goofing around the
house she got her parents to play with her. It just shows that she made symbolic terms on each picture or
event she experienced and she has improved and reached the preoperational stage. This concrete
concept she created by her own understanding that if one event happened this is what it is for her. As
well as for the objects and words she encounters.
When Riley reached middle childhood she became a part of their elementary school’s all girls ice
hockey team. This explains that Riley’s cognitive capabilities have been developed a lot and better. Since
the game has rules to abide Riley most likely understood that in a game there are things to avoid and to
do in order to attain a fair win. This would probably challenge her logic and this means that her cognitive
capabilities probably have improved in terms of logical thinking. Since playing is not all about just plainly
following steps and rules to score Riley must have understood the concepts more deeper than before and
made her plan for her own strategy to get a point without both breaking any rules and tricking the
opposite team. Meaning achieve the tasks of the concrete operational stage.
Lastly, the formal operational stage is about one's cognitive improvement becoming wider in
many major concepts. As Riley reached the late childhood stage it showed that she became more and
more practical, acknowledging things happening around her just beyond herself. As their family moved
into another town. Meaning he was concerned about her social life. Having no friends in the new town to
play ice hockey with. Her emotions were disrupted. Showing that she was not just having a problem about
her not having friends but also she was obviously upset for leaving her peers and life in the other town
which she values the most during that time. This does not only show her cognitive improvement towards
social relationships but the ethical and moral issues can be pinpointed also. Although Riley was against
the idea of them moving she kept silent because she knew that the moving of town was for her parents
job. She might have thought that it was more important than her concerns. Which shows that Riley can
now balance issues before she would do any action about it. Then she did not like to go to school during
those times her parents became so worried about her. But because she really did not like the current
residence she thought she could not do anything about her feeling empty especially she did not want to
complain to her parents about it and caused her to feel like a burden. She left the house and planned to
go somewhere far away from her parents so that she would not worry them about her feeling depressed.
It tells that Riley became morally logical. She was able to comprehend and balance out consequences
into information for her to become this logical. However later on in this story Riley learned to adjust and
adapt the whole changes of their life and was able to move on and continue a new lifestyle. Meaning she
was able to rethink her thoughts that are enabled by her capabilities which shows that she achieved the
tasks of the formal operational stage.
REFLECTION
From the module on Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, I learned that...
Piaget’s stages identify the different developing capabilities of a child mentally,
physically, emotionally, and social relations. The stages are about the knowledge the children
comprehend and how they understand and perceive their own ideas of it to catch up with the
pace of many and evolving information from many sources continue or not to exist. Wisely, it is
more important to focus on the process of attaining knowledge for older people to assess the
child's attitude towards it. We need to understand how the children create their schema,
because the way we think is not the same to them and we cannot impose what we know
without compromising the children's curiosity and ignorance. This is to allow children to learn
free without feeling oppressed. Children may be too clueless to feel oppressed but tasks should
be spooned slowly according to their age. Learning would be more smooth and open that way.
Then this purpose can be fulfilled by the three different components of the schema. The
assimilation or fitting additional knowledge about one particular subject complemented by the
accommodation making new discovery, and the last one is equilibrium or compensating
misunderstood information. These may be the reason for Piaget’s focus on the process; Point 1
to 2 with more components in between rather than Point 1 only to 2, this will allow the children
to fill the spaces on their shelves inside their minds accordingly without leaving a gap.
Module 7 ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT
-Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
“Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.”
-Erik Erikson
CHALLENGE
In this Module, the students are expected to:
➢ Explain the 8 stages of Life to someone you care about.
➢ Write a short story of your life using Erikson’s stages as frame work.
➢ Suggest at least 6 ways on how Erikson’s theory can be useful for you as
a future teacher.
INTRODUCTION
o Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development are a very relevant, highly
regarded and meaningful theory. Life is a continuous process involving learning and
trials which help us to grow. Erikson’s enlightening theory guides us and helps to tell
us why.
o Erik Erikson was a psychoanalyst who identified eight stages of
psychosocial development.
o Epigenetic Principle
o Psychosocial Crisis
DEFINITION: STAGE 1- INFANCY (BIRTH – 1 1⁄2
YEARS OLD)
- To develop a basic trust in the mothering figure and to generalize it to others. The child
trusts those who care for her and mistrusts a stranger.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 2- TODDLER (1 1⁄2 - 3 YEARS OLD)
- To gain some self-control and independence within the environment.
- Learns to walk and use his hands
- If encouraged, develops autonomy
- If discouraged and punished harshly and excessively the child develops dependence
and shame, doubt and self-pity
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 3- PRESCHOOL (3 - 6 YEARS OLD)
- To develop a sense of purpose and the ability to initiate and direct one’s own activities
- Begins to explore his social and physical world, discovering what he can accomplish
- Aware of various social roles imitates adult’s behavior.
- When punished develops sense of guilt. (conscience)
- The family is responsible for the child’s behavior and action.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 4- SCHOOL AGE (6 - 12 YEARS OLD)
- To achieve a sense of self-confidence.
- Child’s world broadens
- Technical skills are learned
- Peer group influence Identification and/ or separation with sexes (self realization)
-Play age
- When the child cannot accomplish the expectations from him, he develops a sense of
inferiority
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 5- ADOLESCENTS (12 – 18 YEARS OLD)
- To integrate the tasks mastered in the previous stages into a secure sense of self.
- Always asking Who Am I? (Self and Society role indetification and realization)
- Struggles with society’s demands and physical changes in his body (more self
conscious and engaged)
- Peer group becomes an essential source of rules of behaviour
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 6- YOUNG ADULTHOOD (18 - 25 YEARS OLD)
- To form an intense, lasting relationship or a commitment to another person, a cause,
an institution, or a creative effort.
- Develops warm intimate relation with another person and failure to develop such
relationship results to isolation
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
STAGE 7- ADULTHOOD (25 - 65 YEARS OLD)
- To achieve the life goals established for one self while considering the welfare of
future generations. (more concerned and established humanity)
- The most productive years of adulthood
- The individual’s worth is dependent on his contribution to family and society
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
STAGE 8- MATURITY (65 - DEATH)
- To review one’s life and derive meaning from both positive and negative events, while
achieving a positive sense of self.
- The individual comes to the temporal limits of his life
- The period of achievement and sense of integrity
- Failure to achieve one’s goals results to regret and despair.
- Fear of the end of life
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared materials.
APPLICATION
Write your own life story using the stages of psychosocial development as framework. Go
through each of the stages that apply to you (most probably, stages 1-5 or 6). Ask information from your
parents and other significant persons in your life. Look at old baby books and photo albums. Also,
include the results of your questionnaire in the activity section. Write a narrative for each stage.
I asked my mother how I was when I was still an infant and one thing she explained with
emphasis is that I was a very clingy child. She told me I would go anywhere with anyone I know and
even I got bitten by a dog for strolling outside with my Auntie. It tells how much I have grew really huge
trust and just as how children go with their instinct around familiar people. I was open to everyone I was
familiar with. Which can also tell how I may have been wary to people who I haven’t familiarized with.
Also, I wasn’t the type of child to fear anyone with new faces and most of the time I would want to be
around people, meaning I was an adoptive infant.
As a toddler my mother told me that I was a very dependent child. I used to scream for food
even though they were already ordering at the counter. Just because I did not want to be left alone in
my seat. It kind of tells that I still haven’t developed independence which I suppose to have in those
times. However she also explained how active of a kid I was. I learned how to sing on my own she said
that early with melody and language skills mimicking the artists. My elders have always told me how
much potential I had in singing just even in my childhood. My playfulness would also make sense in
terms of autonomy. That if ever I got the chance to step on the ground or like my when parents would
put me down I would not waste time and I ran around the house. It is like I have realized that time what I
was capable of so it is somewhat like I knew what I want to do and used it to experience more and
develop myself.
During my first days in school I remembered being able to feel the need to gain something I
don’t know since my parents were very protective of me I kept wondering and asking questions why
they would send me somewhere so unfamiliar to me and far from home with full preparation and snacks
instead of just letting me run around the house all day and force to sleep in the afternoon. That was a
really great change of lifestyle for me. And since I started school I would want to be friends with
everyone that are good to me or be the enemy of everyone rude to me or my friends. It’s like the sense
of roles were gradually getting into my understanding. I tried to communicate with people I don’t know
for the sake of the unconscious desire of being in a group that is also when I learned to be protective of
my people because of how my parents are of me. The trait I can really identify that has developed in me
in this stage are the social traits because of my attitude towards other people. Because of how I valued
my relationship with my family and friends very much. Both the positive and negative social traits. I can
put people into categories and figured how I think I should treat them. My parents behvaior were really
influencing of course they showed they valued me as their child as in the environment that resulted me
to have different understanding and respond to situations and other people and beings.
When I was in sixth grade I become more competent and find pride and content when I’m able
to share my capabilites to other or do things that I like. One time I was really impressed with the drum
corps dancer because of the way they dance along to the beat on our streets and how their beautiful
costumes sparkle as they move and all their battoons twirls in sync, I let my desire took place and I was
so confident about it that I joined the band. I saw the interest and took the opportunity to engage in
something. Through out my elementary life I experienced a lot of great things that I realized would never
have happened to me staying at home. I found soild group of friends that share the same interests as
mine and we would do things together. We were all practically siblings from the same mother. Gradually
I also adopt to their behavior spending my time with them for almost 24/7 six years of elementary
school. Since we were capable of doing activities we would all join jamboree and try the challenges
there that showed how much I have enhanced my skills. School was not all fun, there were also times
where I would be very terrible in academics. From then on I developed negative feeling and pity coping
mechanism. Like when I take an exam and fail to pass even after reviewing, sometimes I would choose
to distance myself from my friends because I knew I never achieve something big like they have. There
are times when I reflect to myself and I see what I have become but that is just all I know and choose to
figure, it is true that I never really tried to figure what I should really do as a to become a human person.
It is true that these days I always try to question myself. I have dreams of my own. Before I want
what I want for myself. I want to be successful in the future and earn as much money as I can so that I
could experience spending money without having to worry of the worth just to compensate for my life
today. Some of my desires caused me to struggle. Like how I wanted to be a pretty as my favorite artists
or have a life like the artist where they earn at young age doing the things they really like. However,
there are responsibilities and life challenge both comes to me hard. And that allows me to understand
the struggles of other people and things that truly matter. When I became less selfcentered I see that
other people can have same struggles like me or maybe even worse than I could handle. That is when I
start trying to change my mindset. That tells about the fact that I have become self conscious and
concerned to the importance of fulfilling demands. I am now trying to avoid comparing myself to others
and get distress about the fact that I lack so much compared to them to be having the life I wanted like
theirs. There is this realization of purpose in life. I try to make something out of y capapbilities and limits.
I knew what I should be doing and try to figure how to become what I meant to be with what I have just
to make myself worthy and an effective part of the society. Today, when I conceive about success I
know when I say I need to be successful is not just about me, I see people suffering on the street,
animals that are abused and hope of lifting the misfortune of other people that my self fulfillment aim
and the need to engage in the perpetuation of the betterment of the society which is also demands for
myself.
REFLECTION From the Module on Erikson’s Stages of Psycho-social Theory of Development I learned...
Module 8 KOHLBER’S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
-Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
“Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that
have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.”
-Lawrence Kohlberg
CHALLENGE
In this Module, the students are expected to:
➢ Explain the stages of moral development
➢ Analyze a person’s level of moral reasoning based on his responses to
moral dilemmas.
➢ Cite how the theory of moral development can be applied to your work as
teacher later on.
INTRODUCTION
Individuals, when confronted by situations where they need to make moral decisions, exercise
their own ability to use moral reasoning. Lawrence Kohlberg was interested in studying the
development of moral reasoning. He based his theory on the findings of Piaget in studying cognitive
development. Our ability to choose right from wrong is tied with our ability to understand and reason
logically.
DEFINITION
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
APPLICATION
RESEARCH CONNECTION
Read a research that is related to KOHLBER’G Theory. Fill out the matrix below.
REFLECTION
From this module of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, I learned...
PROBLEM RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
FINDINGS CONCLUSIONS
Source: (BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY FORMAT)
Module 9 VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY
-Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
“What a child can do in cooperation today, tomorrow she/he will be able to do alone.”
-Lev Vygotsky
CHALLENGE
In this Module, the students are expected to:
➢ Explain why Vygotsky’s theory is called “Socio-cultural” theory ➢
Differentiate Piaget and Vygotsky’s views on cognitive development ➢
Explain how scaffolding is useful in teaching a skill.
INTRODUCTION
The key theme of Vygotsky’s theory is that social interaction plays a very important role in
cognitive development. He believed that individual development could not be understood without
looking into the social and cultural context within which development happens. Scaffolding is Vygotsky’s
term for the appropriate assistance given by the teacher to assist the learner accomplishes a task.
Agreed that children are active learners, but their knowledge is socially constructed.
escribed the “zone of proximal development”, where learning occurs.
DEFINITION
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
s and customs dictate what is important to learn.
VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY
Importance of CULTURE- humans use of tools and symbols to learn
–dictates what we learn and how - the values, beliefs, customs and
skills of a social group.
SOCIAL–INTERACTION – cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of the society is
necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up communities culture.
CENTRAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE:
Language- is made possible because of our culture (tools and symbols). The learning of language (or
signs) is brought about by social-processes, and language or signs ultimately make thought possible
APPLICATION RESEARCH
CONNECTION
Read a research that is related to VYGOTSKY’S Theory. Fill out the matrix below.
PROBLEM RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Source: (BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY FORMAT)
REFLECTION
From the Module on Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory, I learned that...
FINDINGS CONCLUSIONS
Module 10 BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL THEORY
-Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
“Children need people in order to become human.”
-Urie Bronfenbrenner
CHALLENGE
In this Module, the students are expected to:
➢ Describe each of the layers of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model ➢
Identify factors in one’s own life that exerted influence on one’s
development. ➢ Use the bioecological theory as a framework to describe the factors
that
affect a chils and adolescent development
INTRODUCTION
Bronfenbrenner came up with a simple yet useful paradigm showing the different factors that
exert influence on an individual’s development. It points out the ever widening spheres of influence that
shape every individual, from his/her immediate family to the neighborhood, the country, even the world!
DEFINITION
ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY
The varied systems of the environment and the interrelations hips among the systems shape a
child's development.
he environment affects the child and the child influences the environment.
*Courtesy to: Erson B. Dagdag/ St. Louis Review Center prepared
materials.
Both the environment and biology influence the child’s development.
THE MICROSYSTEM- activities and interactions in the child’s immediate surroundings:
parents, school, friends, etc.
THE MESOSYSTEM- relationships among the entities involved in the child‘s microsystem: parents’
interactions with teachers, a school's interactions with the day care provider
THE EXOSYSTEM- social institutions which affect children indirectly: the parents work settings and
policies, extended family networks, mass media, community resources
THE CHRONOSYSTEM- covers the element of time as it relates to a child’s environments.
- Changes which occur during a child’s life, both personally,
like the birth of a sibling
THE MACROSYSTEM- broader cultural values, laws and governmental resources
APPLICATION
RESEARCH CONNECTION
Read a research that is related to BRONFENBRENNER’S Theory. Fill out the matrix below.
REFLECTION
From the Module on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory, I learned that...
PROBLEM RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
FINDINGS CONCLUSIONS
Source: (BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY FORMAT)