Problem-Solving

Encoding

Effective problem-solving depends on the way in which a person understands or encodes the problem. Encoding involves transforming the problem information into some form of mental representation that can be operated on to solve the problem. With development, the ability to encode information important for solving a problem improves as does the allocation of attention during encoding.

Strategies

Strategies are conscious cognitive or behavioral activities that enhance problem-solving, such as [Page 1738]classification or rehearsal. With increasing age, children are more likely to use strategies to solve problems and are more skilled in doing so. One common strategy is means–ends analysis, in which the current state of a problem situation is assessed in relation to the goal and then the steps to reach the goal are identified and adjusted as needed as the problem is solved.

Analogical Reasoning

Problem-solving can be aided by analogical reasoning, the inference that if 2 or more items are similar in some ways they are likely to be similar in other ways (e.g., A is to B as C is to ____). This type of reasoning improves with development, yet even preschoolers can recognize relations across objects if the content is familiar and solution choices are accessible, such as chocolate (A) is to melted chocolate (B) as snowman (C) is to which of the five pictures, one of which depicts a melted snowman. Practice with analogical reasoning helps deepen children’s understanding of relations across objects, which helps them generalize and learn across problems.

Rule-Based Reasoning

This type of reasoning helps children identify and use underlying rules to solve problems. This developing skill has been demonstrated in many domains, including balance-scale problems. Three-year-olds do not use rules to solve balance problems. However, 4- to 5-year-olds can use one dimension, such as the number of weights per side, in their rule and can solve problems for which this dimension is most relevant. By 9 years of age, children use two dimensions, such as weight and distance from the fulcrum, and they can solve more types of balance problems. Some older children use torque (Weight × Distance) and are able to solve all types of balance problems.

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