ORGANIZING THE COGNITIVE ENVIROMENT FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS IN TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Abstract

The article outlines the main difficulties in creating a learning environment through problem solving. The effectiveness of evaluating well and ill- structured problems with quantitative methods and the need for qualitative evaluation criteria are examined. Two leading aspects of Jonassen's concept of design of a constructivist environment through problem solving with a practical and pragmatic role in creating problem situations are presented - organizing the cognitive environment and regulating its difficulty. The components of the problem as a construct and the specificity of the well- and poorly structured environment are described. Emphasis is placed on the content of the main dimensions - structure and complexity, as well as on the characteristic stages in the process of designing the problem situation, shaping the problem space and regulating the objective difficulty of the problem. A model for problem-solving support is also considered as part of the design of the learning environment and a way to model its functional difficulty. Examples are proposed, illustrating well- and poorly structured problems, the possibilities of the structural auxiliary model to be combined with conceptually different procedural models. The role and importance of the cognitive environment for problem-solving in engineering as a field of the Technology and Entrepreneurship and STEM discipline are considered.