This document discusses Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory of human development. It provides an overview of the key aspects of Bronfenbrenner's model, including the importance he placed on proximal processes and how the different systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem) interact and influence development. It also reviews some limitations of the theory, such as the lack of research on mesosystem interactions and challenges to empirical testing. The document concludes by noting how more recent work still finds links to Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspectives.

1. CASILLANO, MARY JEAN D.
MAED- EE
Critical Analysis on Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory
Early Child Development: A Conceptual Model
Development takes place through the process of progressively more complex
reciprocal interactions between an active, evolving bio-psychological human
organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate external
environment.’ (Bronfenbrenner, 1995).
Bronfenbrenner became more concerned with the proximal processes of
development, meaning the enduring and persistent forms of interaction in the
immediate environment. His focus shifted from focusing on environmental influences
to developmental processes individuals experience over time.
Bronfenbrenner also suggested that in order to understand the effect of these
proximal processes on development, we have to focus on the person, context and
developmental outcome as these processes vary and affect people differently
(Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000).
Bronfenbrenner’s model quickly became very appealing and became accepted as a
useful framework for psychologists, sociologists and teachers to study child
development.The Ecological Systems Theory provides a holistic approach which is
inclusive of all the systems children and their family are involved in, accurately
reflecting the dynamic nature of actual family relationships (Hayes & O’Toole, 2017).
Paat (2013) considers how Bronfenbrenner’s theory is useful when it comes to the
development of immigrant children. They suggest that immigrant children’s
experiences in the various ecological systems are likely to be shaped by their
cultural differences. An understanding of these children’s ecology can aid in
strengthening social work service delivery for these children.
A limitation of the Ecological Systems Theory is that there is limited research
examining the mesosystems; mainly the interactions between neighborhoods and
the family of the child (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Therefore, it is unclear the
extent to which these systems can shape child development.

2. Another limitation with Bronfenbrenner’s theory is that it is difficult to empirically test
the theory. The studies investigating the ecological systems may establish an effect,
but they cannot establish whether the systems are the direct cause of such effects.
Furthermore, this theory can lead to assumptions that those who do not have strong
and positive ecological systems lack in development. Whilst this may be true in some
cases, many people can still develop into well-rounded individuals without positive
influences from their ecological systems.
For instance, it is not true to say that all people who grow up in poverty-stricken
areas of the world will develop negatively. Similarly, if a child’s teachers and parents
do not get along, some children may not experience any kind of negative effect from
this if it does not concern them.
As a result, people need to take care not to make broad assumptions about
individuals using this theory.
The world has changed a lot since this theory was introduced in terms of
technological developments. However, it could still be said that the exosystem of a
child could be expanded to include social media, video gaming and other modern-
day interactions within the ecological system.
This could suggest that the ecological systems are still valid but will expand over
time to include new modern developments.
Kelly and Coughlan (2019) used constructivist grounded theory analysis to develop a
theoretical framework for youth mental health recovery and found that there were
many links to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory in their own more recent
theory.
Their theory suggested that the components of mental health recovery are
embedded in the ‘ecological context of influential relationships’ which fits in with
Bronfenbrenner’s theory that the ecological systems of the young person such as
peers, family and school all help mental health development.

3. CASILLANO, MARY JEAN D.
MAED- EE
Critical Analysis on Principles of Development and Developmental Change
Underlying Theories of Cognitive and Moral Development
Development defined as increasingly complex and adaptive forms of seeing,
knowing, and caring sheds light on how to identify aims of educational programs
designed to foster development. Educators who aspire to promote development as
well as content mastery help students understand the basis for their decisions,
explore alternative bases and approaches, and consider the criteria used to compare
the quality of alternative explanations. As Dewey argued in a chapter entitled, "Why
Reflective Thinking Must Be an Educational Aim," such analysis "makes possible
action with a conscious aim" (Dewey, 1933, p. 17). In this article, the author draws
from three principles of this approach to illustrate the nature of cognitive and moral
development: (a) individuals actively construct and organize their interpretations of
experience; (b) there are discernible age-related patterns in the ways individuals
organize their thinking; and (c) development occurs in context, in interaction with
one's environment, and thus is highly variable from individual to individual. These
principles provide an important shared foundation that spans many theories of
college student development, including major theories of cognitive and moral
development, and provides an organizing framework for this article. The author
introduces these foundational concepts and principles, shows how these are
reflected in several major developmental theories, examines issues of sequentially
and variability, and concludes with a discussion of developmental linkages between
cognitive and moral development.
Development proceeds from general to specific. In all areas of development, general
activity always precedes specific activity. For example, the fetus moves its whole
body but is incapable of making specific responses. With respect to emotional
behavior infants approach strange and unusual objects with some sort of general
fear response.
Rate of development is not uniform. Individuals differ in the rate of growth and
development. Boys and girls have different development rates. Each part of the body

4. has its own particular rate of growth. There are periods of great intensity and
equilibrium and there are periods of imbalance.

5. CASILLANO, MARY JEAN D.
MAED-EE
Critical Analysis on Individual Differences in Cognitive Functions
Individual differences are easily recognized in any area of performance. The learning
performances expected to take place in classrooms are no exception, and individual
differences are indeed conspicuously present in school. This is partly due to the fact
that the social context of the classroom invites comparisons: Students of
approximately the same age work on the same set of tasks, with results that are
easily comparable and that often have consequences for the future lives of the
students. Thus, in the school context, individual differences in performance are of
great importance to students, teachers, parents, counselors, and everyone else
involved.
The term individual difference is meant to capture the intuition that different people
may approach the same task in different ways. Psychologists who study personality
traits are among those most likely to be interested in individual differences. The
individual differences of interest to cognitive psychologists are generally of two
distinct types: individual differences in abilities (i.e., the capacities to carry out
cognitive tasks) and individual differences in style (i.e., the characteristic manner in
which one approaches cognitive tasks).
Individuals vary in their cognitive performance. While this variation forms the
foundation of the study of human psychometrics, its broader importance is only
recently being recognized. Explicitly acknowledging this individual variation found in
both humans and non-human animals provides a novel opportunity to understand
the mechanisms, development and evolution of cognition.
We consider the distinct challenges in quantifying individual differences in cognition
and provide concrete methodological recommendations. In particular, future studies
would benefit from using multiple task variants to ensure they target specific, clearly
defined cognitive traits and from conducting repeated testing to assess individual
consistency. We then consider how neural, genetic, developmental and behavioral
factors may generate individual differences in cognition. Finally, we discuss the

6. potential fitness consequences of individual cognitive variation and place these into
an evolutionary framework with testable hypotheses. We intend for this special issue
to stimulate researchers to position individual variation at the center of the cognitive
sciences.
As cognitive abilities cannot be directly observed, they must be inferred through
careful experimentation. Measuring individual cognitive variation poses particular
logistical and analytical challenges because it requires repeated testing of known
individuals under standardized conditions, in a way that allows for noise caused by
differences in, for example, motivation, attention and prior experience to be
identified, quantified and/or removed (experimentally or statistically).
Research on people's conceptions of individual differences has investigated, among
other things, the concept of intelligence (e.9., Berg & Sternberg, 1985; R.J.
Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981), and how differences in children's
intelligence might account for differences in achievement. Berg and Sternberg (1985)
found that adults distinguished between three different aspects of intelligence:
practical problem-solving ability ("reasons logically and well," "identifies connections
among ideas’’, "sees all aspects of a problem"), verbal ability ("speaks clearly and
articulately," "is verbally fluent," "converses well"), and social competence ("accepts
others for what they are," "displays interest in the world at large"). As was pointed
out by R.J. Sternberg (1990, p. 60), the problem-solving dimension and the verbal
dimension clearly resemble the major dimensions in Cattell and Horn's hierarchical
model of ability (discussed below). Children, too, seem to make similar distinctions.
Cain and Dweck (1990) found that children account for differences in achievement
outcomes through an implicit theory of intelligence, according to which intelligence is
a combination of knowledge, capacity, and effort. It thus seems that both adults and
children have a multifaceted conception of individual differences in intelligence and
school achievement, with a distinction between acquired knowledge, on the one
hand, and a capacity for problem solving and reasoning on the other.

7. CASILLANO, MARY JEAN D.
MAED- EE
Critical Analysis on Sex Differences in Intelligence: Implications for Education
Sex differences in intelligence is among the most politically volatile topics in
contemporary psychology. Although no single finding has unanimous support,
conclusions from multiple studies suggest that females, on average, score higher on
tasks that require rapid access to and use of phonological and semantic information
in long-term memory, production and comprehension of complex prose, fine motor
skills, and perceptual speed. Males, on average, score higher on tasks that require
transformations in visual-spatial working memory, motor skills involved in aiming,
spatiotemporal responding, and fluid reasoning, especially in abstract mathematical
and scientific domains. Males, however, are also over-represented in the low-ability
end of several distributions, including mental retardation, attention disorders,
dyslexia, stuttering, and delayed speech. A psychobiosocial model that is based on
the inextricable links between the biological bases of intelligence and environmental
events is proposed as an alternative to nature-nurture dichotomies. Societal
implications and applications to teaching and learning are suggested.
Although there are no sex differences in general intelligence, reliable differences are
found on some tests of cognitive abilities. Many of the tasks that assess the ability to
manipulate visual images in working memory show an advantage for males, whereas
many of the tasks that require retrieval from long-term memory and the acquisition
and use of verbal information show a female advantage. Large effects favoring
males are also found on advanced tests of mathematical achievement, especially
with highly select samples. Males are also overrepresented in some types of mental
retardation. Effects sizes are variable and often large. These differences are
generally found cross-culturally and across the life span. The nature–nurture
dichotomy is rejected as an interpretive framework. In light of recent findings that
environmental variables alter the biological underpinnings of intelligence and
individuals actively participate in creating their environments, we prefer a
psychobiosocial model for understanding sex differences in intelligence.

8. The ways in which women and men differ in intelligence and specific cognitive
abilities are among psychology’s most heated controversies. Massive amounts of
data show that although there are some on average differences in specific cognitive
abilities, there is considerable overlap in the male and female distributions. There are
no sex differences in general intelligence – standardized IQ tests were written to
show no differences, and separate assessments that were not written with this
criterion show no differences in general intelligence. There are more males in some
categories of mental disability that are genetically linked, but there are no genetic
explanations for differential achievement at the high end of the distributions. Average
between-sex differences on specific cognitive abilities – notably reading and writing
(female advantage) and some mathematical and visuospatial abilities (male
advantage) – often show considerable cross-cultural variation in effect size.
Additionally, there have been changes over time so that any conclusions about this
controversial topic that we make today may need to be revised in the future.