Chapter 8

1. Community Influences
on
Children’s Development
CHAPTER 8

2. Features of the Community Support
Children’s Learning
• Unique physical characteristics
• Services and interconnected social systems
• The way the people in these systems relate to one another and
utilize community resources
• Media and online communities

3. Objectives
• Discuss how the physical attributes of a community support and extend or
hinder children’s education.
• Explain how the social and emotional environments in a community affect the
amount and quality of learning that children derive from their community.
• Describe how organizations and agencies within a community provide many
and varied learning experiences for children.

4. Objectives, cont’d
• Delineate media and technology influences on children’s learning and
development.
• State how the interactions between communities, schools, and families provide
support for children’s learning.

5. What is Community?
Community refers to the larger entities to which the family and neighborhood
belongs and includes service agencies, government institutions, social agencies,
and business enterprises as well as the community of extended family and close
friends, plus communities of the mind, such as religious organizations and
interest groups, and the digital world

6. Community Influences
Ecological model of development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) illustrates how
relationships affect children’s growth and learning among relationships.
 Influences of the community vary depending on location, cultural aspects,
physical makeup of the region, social networks established by stakeholders, and
the ways in which media and technology are integrated.
 Gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen in the United States.
 Under impoverished and depressed conditions, the school and community
typically stretch resources to ensure student success.

7. Physical Environment In A Community
Natural Environments
- Children’s Play (constructive play; exploratory play)
- Nature
Human Creations and Structure
Place-Based Education

8. Social and Emotional Environments
In A Community
Safe home environment and a safe neighborhood are essential for student
play, exploration, and relationships.
Social Networks
- Adult Connections and Support
- Mentoring
- Peer Group Settings
Ethnic Community Contributions

9. Community Organizations and Agencies
Businesses, Commercial Enterprises, and Professional Services
Transportation Services
Government Agencies
- Networking
Social Service Agencies
Social and Cultural Organizations
- Cultural Organizations
- Social Organization
Interactions among Community Organizations, Schools, and Families
Collaboration Needs to Grow

10. Media and Technology Create Online Communities
Positive Aspects of Media Use
- Online Media
- Video Games
- Print Media
- Children’s Books
- Newspapers for Education
- Cautions on Using Print Media
- Media Vigilance

11. Take-Away
• What children learn from their community resources depends largely on the
use parents and teachers make of them.
• Teachers can build family awareness of the learning possibilities in the
community and introduce children to the world outside of the school and
home.
• Teachers will be expected to guide children’s media encounters.
• Use of community resources will support and enriches classroom learning.