The readings point out that there is a tension between Piaget's emphasis on maturation leading to inexorable movement through a sequence of stages at roughly determined times and his emphasis on children moving on to new stages through active interaction with their environment. The first emphasizes internal, deterministic factors, while the second stresses external and flexible factors. Are these two ideas irreconcilable? Would children show a completely different pattern development if raised in an environment radically unlike our own? Why or why not?
