Education Case Study: Transition

Paper Summary:

This paper uses Bronfenbrenner's theories regarding the interplay between the environment and the individual to understand the transitional problems challenging Frank, the middle school student in this case, who also has moved to a rural area. The author points out that the challenges Frank faces are associated with his perception of disconnect between himself and his peers and with his new public school as opposed to his more challenging private school, which he previously attended. The paper suggests that Erick Erickson would assess Frank as beginning stage 5 "Identity vs. Role Confusion" as this student negotiates his needs and desires to be independent and individual while perceiving those around him as wholly unlike him and unable to understand his interests.

From the Paper:

"Frank self identifies with an outsider clique whom he titles the "I don't care" group and describes as a group who doesn't care about belonging to cliques even though he admits that his school is rather cliquish. Frank may give this impression and hold these perceptions mostly because he has not grown up in this environment and therefore does not know the histories or personalities of his peers, and in the reverse they do not know his so he does not perceive himself as fitting in."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bergman, Roger. "2 Identity as Motivation: Toward a Theory of the Moral Self." Moral Development, Self, and Identity. Ed. Daniel K. Lapsley and Darcia Narvaez. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. 21-43.
• Bronfenbrenner, Urie. "Thoughts on Teaching." Human Ecology 33.3 (2005): 26.
• Evans, Richard I., and Erik Erikson. Dialogue with Erik Erikson. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
• Kaplan, Jeffrey S., ed. Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Identity Issues. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
• Karniol, Rachel, and Michael Ross. "The Motivational Impact of Temporal Focus: Thinking about the Future and the Past." Annual Review of Psychology (1996): 593.

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