{"id":91,"date":"2025-12-30T19:34:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T19:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/?post_type=chapter&p=91"},"modified":"2026-04-26T01:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:05:45","slug":"environmental-influences-on-child-behavior","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/chapter\/environmental-influences-on-child-behavior\/","title":{"raw":"Environmental Influences on Child Behavior","rendered":"Environmental Influences on Child Behavior"},"content":{"raw":"

What We Mean by Environment<\/h2>\r\nWhen we speak of environment in the context of young children\u2019s development and learning, as well as environmental effects on their behavior, we are referring to far more than the physical setting of a classroom. Environment encompasses everything children experience, the sights and sounds around them, the curriculum they engage with, the teaching practices (pedagogy) they encounter, and the quality of their social interactions with peers and adults. In early childhood education, environment is both the backdrop and the active context in which growth unfolds (Gestwicki, 2017; Trawick-Smith, 2017). The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education calls the environment itself the third teacher, after peers and the classroom teacher, because it communicates values, supports relationships, and provokes learning. (Edwards et al., 1998)\r\n\r\nThe physical environment, classroom arrangement, materials, and outdoor play spaces matters because it shapes children\u2019s opportunities for exploration, independence, and safety. Yet environment also includes the curriculum, the daily structure of what children are invited to learn and do; the pedagogy, or the ways teachers intentionally interact and guide; and the social environment, which includes both peer relationships and the ways adults communicate, respond, and build trust with each child. A warm and responsive adult who notices a child\u2019s efforts is just as much a part of the environment as the blocks in the construction area or the trees on the playground (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).\r\n\r\nIt is important to recognize that children\u2019s environments are not limited to the classroom. Families, neighborhoods, cultural expectations, and broader societal influences all play a role. Developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner described these multiple layers of influence through his model of concentric circles: the microsystem of daily interactions (home, school, childcare); the mesosystem of connections between those settings (such as family\u2013school partnerships); the exosystem of larger contexts that indirectly shape children\u2019s lives (like parents\u2019 workplaces or community resources); and the macrosystem of cultural values and social policies (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In this way, the child\u2019s environment extends outward in circles that interconnect and shape one another.\r\n\r\nKeeping this broad view of the environment helps us appreciate that the physical classroom is just one part of a much larger picture. The consistency, support, and experiences provided by early childhood programs are also influenced by, and must be responsive to the larger worlds in which children live. Understanding the environment as \u201ceverything children experience\u201d sets the stage for exploring the specific components of preschool environments that we control, from the design of indoor and outdoor spaces, to the rhythms of daily routines, to the quality of peer and adult relationships. These perspectives connect directly to the principles of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), which emphasize that high-quality environments must be responsive to children\u2019s developmental levels, cultural contexts, and individual needs (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2020).\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n

References<\/h2>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). National Association for the Education of Young Children.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach\u2014Advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Ablex Publishing.<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Gestwicki, C. (2017). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early education (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2020). Developmentally appropriate practice position statement.<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Trawick-Smith, J. (2017). Early childhood development: A multicultural perspective (7th ed.). Pearson.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","rendered":"

    What We Mean by Environment<\/h2>\n

    When we speak of environment in the context of young children\u2019s development and learning, as well as environmental effects on their behavior, we are referring to far more than the physical setting of a classroom. Environment encompasses everything children experience, the sights and sounds around them, the curriculum they engage with, the teaching practices (pedagogy) they encounter, and the quality of their social interactions with peers and adults. In early childhood education, environment is both the backdrop and the active context in which growth unfolds (Gestwicki, 2017; Trawick-Smith, 2017). The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education calls the environment itself the third teacher, after peers and the classroom teacher, because it communicates values, supports relationships, and provokes learning. (Edwards et al., 1998)<\/p>\n

    The physical environment, classroom arrangement, materials, and outdoor play spaces matters because it shapes children\u2019s opportunities for exploration, independence, and safety. Yet environment also includes the curriculum, the daily structure of what children are invited to learn and do; the pedagogy, or the ways teachers intentionally interact and guide; and the social environment, which includes both peer relationships and the ways adults communicate, respond, and build trust with each child. A warm and responsive adult who notices a child\u2019s efforts is just as much a part of the environment as the blocks in the construction area or the trees on the playground (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).<\/p>\n

    It is important to recognize that children\u2019s environments are not limited to the classroom. Families, neighborhoods, cultural expectations, and broader societal influences all play a role. Developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner described these multiple layers of influence through his model of concentric circles: the microsystem of daily interactions (home, school, childcare); the mesosystem of connections between those settings (such as family\u2013school partnerships); the exosystem of larger contexts that indirectly shape children\u2019s lives (like parents\u2019 workplaces or community resources); and the macrosystem of cultural values and social policies (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In this way, the child\u2019s environment extends outward in circles that interconnect and shape one another.<\/p>\n

    Keeping this broad view of the environment helps us appreciate that the physical classroom is just one part of a much larger picture. The consistency, support, and experiences provided by early childhood programs are also influenced by, and must be responsive to the larger worlds in which children live. Understanding the environment as \u201ceverything children experience\u201d sets the stage for exploring the specific components of preschool environments that we control, from the design of indoor and outdoor spaces, to the rhythms of daily routines, to the quality of peer and adult relationships. These perspectives connect directly to the principles of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), which emphasize that high-quality environments must be responsive to children\u2019s developmental levels, cultural contexts, and individual needs (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2020).<\/p>\n

    \n

    References<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.<\/li>\n
    2. Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). National Association for the Education of Young Children.<\/li>\n
    3. Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach\u2014Advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Ablex Publishing.<\/li>\n
    4. Gestwicki, C. (2017). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early education (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.<\/li>\n
    5. National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2020). Developmentally appropriate practice position statement.<\/li>\n
    6. Trawick-Smith, J. (2017). Early childhood development: A multicultural perspective (7th ed.). Pearson.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Environment","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["ken-breeding"],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc"},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[61],"license":[56],"class_list":["post-91","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","contributor-ken-breeding","license-cc-by-nc"],"part":89,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/91\/revisions\/487"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/89"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/91\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/childguidance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}