Ecological Environment in Early Childhood Education

Ecological Environment in Early childhood Education
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Ecological Environment in Early childhood Education
In early childhood education, ecology is a term used to study the interrelationship between a child's social and physical environment in preschool and how it influences their development. The physical environment consists of a classroom, community, playground, and school. Conversely, the social environment consists of teaching staff, faculty, and children. Notably, the interaction between these components in a child's development forms an educational ecosystem. Different scholars studied the relationship between the physical environment and a child's development and came up with various theories to explain their findings.
Urie Bronfenbrenner introduced his ecological frame theory in the 1970s which suggests that a child's development ( Humans) occurs within the context of quality and context of their physical environment and cognitive structure (Lang, 2005). Further, his theory views child development as a complex structure influenced by various levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate family and school settings to comprehensive cultural norms and values, customs, and laws. Further, Bronfenbrenner divided individuals' environment into five different systems: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem (Lang, 2005). These systems are ingrained within the child at the core and set within their immediate family. Therefore, when examining child development, it is crucial to focus on the child's immediate environment and the larger one.
The microsystem environment is the first level of Bronfenbrenner's theory that consists of items in direct contact with the child's immediate environment, such as parents, peers, and siblings ( Lang, 2005). The relationship in the microsystem environment can influence a child and be capable of changing their beliefs towards other people. Thus, the relat...