One aim of this study was to identify, in a group of unsuccessful college level problem solvers, the status and use of their declarative knowledge as revealed by students' attempts to solve novel problems in a pencil-and-paper setting. It was hypothesized that for some unsuccessful problem solvers, their problem representation could be improved by structuring the process of problem solving to prevent premature implementation of procedures before the problem had been understood. A second aim of the study was to elucidate the performance of unsuccessful problem solvers attempting novel problems in a computer-based environment that imposed a structure on problem solving and provided feedback during the process of problem solving. It was hypothesized that obligate translation of given data should facilitate the disembedding and elaboration of relevant information from a problem statement, and so enhance a student's problem representation. Difficulties in getting started on a problem were identified as due in part to inappropriate or missing declarative knowledge, and to a failure to access and use this knowledge. The study showed that a computer-based setting can provide information about the declarative knowledge base of unsuccessful problem solvers. (MVL)