Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) was a pioneer in studying the behavior of children in their natural life space of family, school, peer group, and community. His concept of the ecology of human development is transforming practice for effective work with children and youth. Bronfenbrenner's research highlights the power of human relationships to…

When a behavior disappears and then resurfaces, developmental psychologists typically look more closely at the behavior to figure out what is different before and after--that is, they increase the grain with an eye toward discovering how the system that generates that behavior has changed. But what ought to count as a U-shaped phenomenon? How…

The purpose of this article is to describe what could happen in the classroom when parents and teachers have differing expectations of children's behaviors. It also describes strategies designed to accommodate these differences. Differences in acquiring classroom skills can occur because of differing expectations based on children's individual…

Describes a classroom management approach called developmental discipline that incorporates observation with knowledge of the individual child, situation, and child development to guide appropriate behavior. Discusses factors associated with behavior problems and how teachers can work with parents to apply developmental discipline techniques and…