Model of Child Development

Ecology is the study of the environment, in a scientific sense. Knowing that ecology is based on the environment, Coll & Szalacha's model of child development is ecological because they studied and inquired how the environment effects the development of children. They discussed how environments van influence both positively and negatively. They also address the same topic that all teachers cannot forget, and that is that all the students are different. Just because they are in the same classroom, school, or school district does not mean that they are all share the experiences. If students do share experiences, does not mean that their views at the end of the experience will be the same. There are 8 main topics that they use to discuss these topics; Social position, Racism, Segregation, promoting/inhabiting environments,Adaptive Culture, Child Characteristics, Development Competencies, and Family.

My middle school experience fits best with the Family element. My parents were going through a rough time, later to get divorced. In middle school was when my father began to treat me in the horrible way that he would treat my mom. My father controlled the amount of money that my mom, sister and i were allowed to have. Most of the time that meant $20 for an average of 3 weeks. Even though with what my father made we were considered upper middle class, i lived like i was in poverty. This affected my academics in a negative way because i was more concerned with whether we were going to eat that night rather than doing my homework.