When students can begin to combine and relate patterns to account for (e.g., the contribution of valence electrons and molecular geometry to dissolving), they are considered to have moved to Level 3, "Relating." Coordinating and relating developing knowledge in chemistry becomes critical to move to this level. Niaz and Lawson (1985) argued that without generalizable models of understanding, students choose to memorize rules instead, limiting their understanding to the Representing level of the perspectives. Students need a base of domain knowledge before integration and coordination of the knowledge develops into understanding (Metz, 1995). As they move toward the Relating level, students should be developing a foundation of domain knowledge so that they can begin to reason like chemists by relating terms to conceptual models of understanding in chemistry, rather than simply memorizing algorithms and terms. Students need to examine and connect ideas to derive meaning in order to move to the Relating level.