The intention of this assignment is to provide information regarding Bronfenbrenner's ecological approach with comparison between Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework and Maslow's Humanism framework.
A Christian response to Bronfenbrenner's framework will be provided, which will in turn illustrate the similarities and difference between both, humanism and an ecological approach.
This assignment will conclude with comments on Bronfenbrenner's contribution to the field of human development as well as concluding remarks on humanism as a theory.
Bronfenbrenner believes that learning and development are" facilitated by the participation of the developing person in progressively more complex patterns of reciprocal activity with someone with whom that person has developed a strong and enduring emotional attachment and when the balance of power gradually shifts in favour of the developing person"(Gardiner, 2005, p.60). To understanding children's development, Bronfenbrenner view is comparable to Vygotsky's, in that the individual's interactions with a sensitive teacher are a major determinant of his/her developmental progress.
English: Maslow´s Hierachy of needs
de Piramide van Maslow
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Ch...Bronfenbrenner urges that, instead of focusing most of our attention on the child, it is important to look also at the environment or setting in which the individual develop.
Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework, are separated into six stages, which are the individual, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the chronosystem.
Firstly, in "the individual system and microsystem there is interaction between the individual person and the environment in the immediate setting. For example, when a mother interacts with other family members (children) at home" (Berger, 1998, p.16).
In the third stage, which is the "mesosystem, is the interrelationship among the various settings in which the individual person is developing. For instance the mesosystem would include the mother's relationships among family, work and with friends (Berger, 1998, P.16). Following onto the next stage is the "exosystem which is the major social structures that impinges on...