Imagination has been defined from a variety of theoretical perspectives, as outlined in
Warnock (1976). The focus here is on a cognitive perspective. Casey (2000) argued that
there are three primary ways in which imagining as a mental act may occur: imaging,
imagining-that, and imagining-how. He noted,
we are capable not only of imaging (objects and events) and imagining that (... a
circumstance or situation), but also of imagining how to do, think, or feel certain
things, as well as how to move, behave, or speak on certain ways. ... It is often
employed, for example, in what John Dewey [1957] called ‘dramatic rehearsal in
imagination,’ that is, when we anticipate how a certain task is to be performed or a
given goal achieved [P. 44].
In this perspective, to ‘‘imagine how’’, which is of particular relevance to teacher
education, is not to project merely a situation (e.g., a mathematics lesson) in which the
imaginer is not a participant, but one into which he or she has also projected him or herself
as an active being who is experiencing it. Imagination is also related to creativity and
interpretation (Warnock, 1976). ‘‘It can construct what it likes out of the elements at its
disposal’’ (p. 16) but its interpretative function ‘‘produces images that look like our way of
representing significance to ourselves’’ (p. 103).
Imagination is influenced by past and present knowledge and experiences (Casey, 2000;
Warnock, 1976). Thus, as Greene (2000) explains, it is not wishful thinking or fantasy, nor
does it signify a special creativity that comes out of nowhere. It is what occurs as a person
encounters new ideas and engages in confrontations with arguments or controversies.
Greene claims,