Activity 6.1

According to the information processing approach, problem solving is a key component to learning. The readings explain that learning is a process of assimilation and accommodation. When assimilating, a person experiences the familiar and incorporates new information easily. However, when learning the unfamiliar a person experiences a problem and must accommodation. According to the article, Recognizing, Defining, and Representing Problems, “when faced with any type of problem, an individual brings to the task his or her experience with similar problems, such as the knowledge about the domain and the individual’s expectations or intuitions about how to approach the problem.” (p. 19) However, approaching unfamiliar content using prior experience and intuition, won’t solve the problem, instead a person must think non-routinely. Therefore, all of learning is a process of assimilating and accommodating, experiencing the familiar and unfamiliar and solving problem after problem.