Urie Bronfrenbrenner

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Urie Bronfenbrenner received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1938, where he completed a double major in Psychology and in Music. He then went on to graduate work in Developmental Psychology, completing his Masters Degree at Harvard followed by his Doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1942.
From the beginning of his scholarly work, Bronfenbrenner has pursued three themes:
1) Developing theory and corresponding research designs at the frontiers of developmental science;
2) Laying out the implications and applications of developmental theory and research for policy and practice
3) Communicating - through articles, lectures, and discussions - the findings of developmental research to undergraduate students, the general public, and to decision-makers both in the private and public sector.
Bronfenbrenner has also played an active role in the design of developmental programs in the United States and abroad, including being one of the founders of Head Start.
In the immediate future, he will be focusing on four main themes, looking at each to evolving theory and research to suggestion and applications for programs and policies.
I. Growing Chaos in the Lives of America's Children, Youth, and Families: Consequences and Countermeasures. accumulated research evidence indicates that mounting disruptive trends taking place in our society over the past four decades have been undermining the competence and character of our America's children, youth and families to the point that continuation of our present policies and practices threatens the future of the nation. At the same time, recent advances in delopmental theory and research point not only to the intervening processes that produce this disarray but also to conditions and mechanisms that might be invoked to counteract the prevailing trends.
II. Proximal Processes as Engines of Development. Proximal processes are one such mechanism. They involve "pattern...