Excerpt from Learning Chemistry: the Importance of Imagination, by Dr. Dave Woodcock of Okanagan University College

In terms of learning science, two options are available.

• You may approach any topic by rote learning of definitions and problem solutions. The problems encountered here are due to difficulty in memorizing using the taxon system, and the amount of material to be memorized. Additionally, although a rote learned route to solve a problem will always solve that particular problem, variations are not solvable using taxon memory.

• You may also approach any topic by visualizing and using your imagination, an approach involving the locale memory system. This way you can quickly and fairly effortlessly build up understanding of a scientific theory. The problems encountered here are due to the build-up process which must start somewhere and proceed steadily in the imagination. Difficulties are encountered here if precise (word-for- word) definitions are required, but since no single route through a problem is memorized, alternative routes and variations in problems are treated without difficulty.

The choice of approach is yours and should only depend on the nature of the learning that you wish to do. The reality is likely that you have emphasized the taxon system of memory in your academic learning and de-emphasized the locale system. In fact, though both systems are important, it is probably the locale system that is most important in science and problem solving. Now that you know of its existence, you can devise ways in which you can start to develop your locale system in the learning of science. To me this means learning to use your imagination.