Abstract
This study deepens the psychological problematic of the forming of competences through learning and problem solving. We highlight the difficulties that we face in the operational defining of the term competence, the complexity of the demarche of the formation and development of the competences. We emphasise the importance of the strategies and the tools used in order to mobilise the psychic resource, that are used in this context, the arguments given by the literature of speciality, as well as the author’s research in this field. Thus, the research emphasised that the statement of a problem triggers in the mental plan the construction process of a representation, a transitory construction that is determined by the elements of the situation and of the task that has to be solved. The failure of the solving or a new learning modality can lead to the changing of the representation, and a new problem-space will be defined, in other words, a new research space for the subject.
Key words: competence, learning, cognitive capacity, strategy, problem solving