Determinants and mechanisms of child development are reflected in theories in western psychology which can be classified into three general approaches based on the suggested determinants of child development:
             - the nativist (maturational) approach to child development sees genetically predetermined maturation as the major determinant of children's development and the behavior is the result of heredity. The promoters of this theory (Bühler, 1930, Gesell, 1933 and Hall, 1904) claim that the environment influences children's development depends on children's genotypes rather than on the characteristics and quality of their environment;
             - the behaviorist (environmental) approach to child development: Skinner, 1953; Thorndike, 1914 and Watson, 1925, attributed all the child's developmental accomplishments to the child's environment. Whereas behaviorists tend to view children as "fabricated" by the environment, nativists tend to view them as "fabricated" out of genetically predetermined maturation;
             - the constructivist (interactional) approach to child development: the major promoter of this theory is Piaget (1936/1959). Piaget holds that the major determinant of children's development is their activity of exploring the external world and that "children come across new environmental phenomena and try to "assimilate" them into their mental schemas (that is, into their existing ways of thinking)"1.
             These three theories do not see a major difference between the determinants of animal and human development. In contrast, Vygotsky and his followers argue that these determinants are different because of the dominant role of the social environment in human development.2
             According to Vygotsky and his Russian followers, social environment is not just a context in which children develop and to which they struggle to adapt. Further more, adults, as representat...