The way I imagine how my mind works is as a puzzle with the edges solved (that being base knowledge such as: things fall down, not up) and every time I learn something new it fills in towards the centre slightly. Not only that but also the new piece interconnects with other pieces (eg. things fall down due to gravity). Being able to link ideas is brilliant, it makes learning so much easier and more fun to remember. It also means that when I don't know an answer to a question I can occasionally use previous knowledge to work out the answer without necessarily remembering the "correct" method.