Structure d’ensemble

A Piagetian concept meaning ‘structures of the whole’.  Refers to the idea that within a given stage of cognitive development (e.g., concrete or formal operations), thinking is organized as a general structure that has wide applicability to many different tasks.  This stands in contrast to the idea that thinking is modular or composed of multiple different abilities or types of intelligence.

See Bourbaki, Cognitive development, Cognitive structures, Décalage, Intelligence, Modularity, Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, Structure