In this chapter, I have shown that problem solving depend on how the problem is represented to the learners. That representation affects, to some degree, they ways that problem solvers represent problem mentally. A more efficacious way of affecting those internal mental representation is to provide students with a variety of knowledge representation tools, such as concept maps, expert systems, and systems dynamics tools, to represent the problem space, that is, their mental representation of the problem and the domain knowledge required to solve it.

The focus of David Jonassen’s paper - titled "Tools for representing problems and knowledge required to solve them" - is on cognitive tools, which may be used to help learners in solving ill-structured problems and to transfer knowledge to different problems. According to Jonassen, problem solving may be fostered when both the relation between information that is inherent in a problem statement and the knowledge needed to make sense of it, is made explicit by using problem representations. The author distinguishes three types of problem representations: semantic network tools (concept maps), production rule models for representing procedural knowledge, and system modeling tools. The problem representation tools share a common characteristic: they simultaneously represent the information inherent in the problem and the particular background knowledge needed for applying a problem solving procedure appropriately.

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