Abstract: The essence of ideological and political courses is to bring out the facts and reasons. The "teaching by heart" should
inspire the "comprehending by heart" to achieve the desired effect. Cognition is the basis of truth realization. In order to inspire
students to comprehend the truth, it is necessary to explore its cognitive processing and promoting strategies of students' realization. The
truth taught in ideological and political courses determines that students' comprehension of the truth has three levels: comprehension,
insight and consciousness. From the perspective of learning cognition, comprehension occurs in knowledge acquisition, and the key of
cognitive processing lies in the construction of cognitive structure. Insight occurs in problem solving, and the key lies in the formation of
problem representation. Consciousness occurs in the application of truth, and the key is the occurrence of learning transfer. Therefore,
the teaching of ideological and political courses should promote the development of cognitive structure through the theoretical
demonstration, systematic explanation and resolution of cognitive conflicts. To promote the formation of problem representation, teachers
should extract and explain the key information of problem context. Teachers need to promote the transfer of learning through the ability
cultivation, enrichment of problem situations and expansion of learning environment.

Key words: ideological and political courses｜ comprehension of the truth｜ , cognitive structure｜ problem representation｜learning transfer