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Ecological Engagement

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Method to Study Human Development

  • Presents a method to apply Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Human Development to empirical research

  • Shows how the method can be applied in practice by bringing together research reports of studies carried out in Brazil and Angola

  • Describes the mature version of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory, focusing on the Process-Person-Time Context (PPTC) model

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Table of contents (17 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiii
  2. Ecological Engagement

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Ecological Engagement: Promotion of Knowledge Production

      • Júlia Sursis Nobre Ferro Bucher-Maluschke
      Pages 3-12
    3. Revisiting the Ecological Engagement: New Aspects and New Research Examples

      • Laíssa Eschiletti Prati, Maria Clara P. de Paula Couto, Michele Poletto, Normanda Araujo de Morais, Simone dos Santos Paludo, Silvia Helena Koller
      Pages 29-48
    4. Ecological Engagement: Systematic Review on the Use of the Research Method

      • Vinicius Coscioni, Hivana Raelcia Rosa da Fonseca, Sílvia Helena Koller
      Pages 49-66
  3. Ecological Engagement in Different Contexts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 67-67
    2. Ecological Engagement in a Children’s Shelter in Espírito Santo, Brazil

      • Edinete Maria Rosa, Célia Regina Rangel Nascimento, Ana Paula dos Santos, Carla Ramos da Silva Melo, Monica Rocha de Souza Nogueira
      Pages 87-101
    3. Ecological Engagement in Institutional Care Context: An Experience Report with Adolescents in Pernambuco

      • Larissa Morélia Sá Vieira Macêdo, Kalina Vanderlei Silva, Débora Maria dos Santos Pinheiro de Lima, Lygia Maria Pereira da Silva
      Pages 103-121
    4. Ecological Engagement in Studying Adolescents Undergoing the Process of Family Reunification

      • Aline Cardoso Siqueira, Débora Dalbosco Dell’Aglio
      Pages 123-142
    5. The School as a Development Context: An Ecological Study in a Riverine Community on the Marajó Island

      • Leila Said Assef Mendes, Fernando Augusto Ramos Pontes
      Pages 143-161
    6. Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents: The Ecological Engagement as a Pathway to Research

      • Luciana Barbosa da Silva Vega, Simone dos Santos Paludo
      Pages 163-173
    7. The Method in Context: Ecological Engagement in Angola

      • Airi Macias Sacco, Silvia Helena Koller
      Pages 175-182
    8. Creating Ecological Contexts of Development and Human Rights for Adolescents

      • Ana Paula Lazzaretti de Souza, Luciana Dutra-Thomé, Eva Diniz Bensaja dei Schiró, Camila de Aquino Morais, Silvia Helena Koller
      Pages 195-204
  4. Possibilities of Theoretical-Methodological Dialogues

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 219-219
    2. Analysis of the Familiar Functioning of Amazonian Riverside Communities: Ecological Engagement, Naturalistic Observations, and Use of Structured Situations

      • Simone Souza da Costa Silva, Fernando Augusto Ramos Pontes, Sarah Daniele Baia da Silva, Daniele Castro Reis, Leila Said Assef Mendes
      Pages 221-232
    3. The Ecological Engagement, the Role of the Research Group and the Collective Construction of Knowledge

      • Fernando Augusto Ramos Pontes, Simone Souza da Costa Silva, Celina Maria Colino Magalhães
      Pages 233-245

About this book

This book presents the method developed by Dr. Silvia Helena Koller and her students and collaborators to apply Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Human Development to empirical studies with children and adolescents. Although Bronfenbrenner's theory, in different stages of development, has been widely cited by several researchers, surprisingly little has been written about the theory itself, its evolution or about the methods that should be used to test it. This book fills this gap by presenting both an overview of Bronfenbrenner’s theory and a method to apply it to empirical research, the Ecological Engagement method.

The book also shows how this method can be applied in practice by bringing together a series of research reports of studies carried out in different regions of Brazil and in Angola that used the Ecological Engagement method to study children and adolescent development in different contexts, such as street situation, sexual exploitation, institutional reception, family reintegration, school and emergency and disasters, among others.

Ecological Engagement – Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Method to Study Human Development will be a valuable tool for psychologists and other social scientists interested in child and adolescent development looking for a solid an innovative methodology that allows researchers to directly interact with their research subjects in their own social contexts in order to fully understand their problems and issues.  

“The methodology of Ecological Engagement, that is explained and richly empirically illustrated in this book, is a singularly significant extension of [Urie Bronfenbrenner’s] bioecological model.  Indeed, in my view it is a brilliant empirical instantiation of the PPCT component of the model. (…) Ecological Engagement methodology is the scientific means through which Urie’s legacy can be furthered.” – Excerpt from the Foreword to the International Edition by Dr. Richard M. Lerner, director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University



Editors and Affiliations

  • North-West University Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Silvia Helena Koller

  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil

    Simone dos Santos Paludo

  • Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil

    Normanda Araujo de Morais

About the editors

Silvia Helena Koller is Full Professor and Chair of the Center for Psychological Studies of At-Risk Populations in the Department of Psychology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Extraordinary Professor at North West University, in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. She was also a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Visiting Scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health between 2016 and 2017. Dr. Koller has focused her investigations on at-risk populations based on a bioecological theoretical perspective, having developed the Ecological Engagement method to apply Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Human Developed to empirical studies of child and adolescent development. She has lectured at different universities around the world, such as North-West University (South Africa), University of Zurich (Switzerland), Harvard University, UIUC, UNL, UNC, and ASU (USA), Universidad del Valle, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Pontificia Universidad Católica Javeriana, and Universidad de Baranquilla (Colombia), Universidad San Marco, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Universidad Autónoma, and Universidad de Chiclayo (Peru), Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile), among others, and has advised and mentored many students who are now important researchers in Brazil, Colombia, Portugal and the USA.

Simone dos Santos Paludo is Associate Professor in the Department of Education and Behavioral Sciences at the Federal University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil, where she coordinates the local branch of the Center for Psychological Studies of At-Risk Populations. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and her main research interests are violations of child, adolescent and youth rights, violence against women, positive development, moral emotions and resilience.   

Normanda Araujo de Morais is Full Professor in the Graduate Program in Psychology at the University of Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil, where she coordinates the Laboratory of Complex Systems Studies: Couples, Family and Community. Dr. Morais holds a PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and her main research interests are human development in contexts of social vulnerability, children and adolescents living in the streets, family and community resilience, positive psychology and families formed by same sex couples.  


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Ecological Engagement

  • Book Subtitle: Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Method to Study Human Development

  • Editors: Silvia Helena Koller, Simone dos Santos Paludo, Normanda Araujo de Morais

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27905-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27904-2Published: 13 November 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27907-3Published: 13 November 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-27905-9Published: 04 November 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXIII, 267

  • Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour

  • Additional Information: Jointly published with Artesã Editora, Belo Horizonte. Original Portuguese edition published by Pearson Clinical Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil, 2016

  • Topics: Developmental Psychology, Childhood, Adolescence and Society, Child and School Psychology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access