The Feynman Technique
Richard Feynman the Nobel Prize winning physicist was one of those rare human beings placed in the world, to help us see the world in a different way. I think it’s easy to go through life in a passive state, half-asleep and unaware of the wonders happening all around us.
Science is not an inaccessible, grandiose subject hidden in the stuffy hallways of Ivy League Schools or multi billion research centres, but something right in front of our eyes which we experience every single day. We use cars, buses or bicycles to go from one place to another; these are all the inventions of science.
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The Feynman technique has helped me tremendously in understanding complex subjects, which seemed too intimidating and out of my circle of competence such as quantum mechanics, programming, engineering and many more technical subjects which stretch the mind to it’s limits. But the greatest part is how it’s helped me in learning languages.
Essentially the Feynman Technique is a tool to learn things much faster and more efficiently, Rote-Memorization is not only a time consuming method but it also produces poor results in the long term.
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It’s mentally demanding to try to think deeply about a problem, rather than passively listening or reading a lecture about it. But we often choose the latter because it’s the path of least resistance.
Traditional education has inculcated passive learning to accommodate its outdated model of the testing system. Students are rewarded for regurgitating information rather than showing comprehension and understanding.
What is the Feynman Technique?
Choose a concept to learn. Select a topic you're interested in learning about and write it at the top of a blank page in a notebook.
Teach it to yourself or someone else.
Return to the source material if you get stuck.
Simplify your explanations and create analogies.
I use the Feynman Technique to help my students achieve proficiency with various Topics. If I had to ask a student to explain what “Gravity” is, they would have no problems in their native tongue. But with English they start to encounter problems in articulating how exactly this phenomenon occurs.
The Feynman Technique helps them organise the information in a simple and concise manner, and I usually remind them to explain it as if they are talking to a 6 year old child. Immediately they are able to organise their thoughts coherently and describe things more effectively.
The Feynman Technique is effective because it requires continual review and analysis, which can help to ensure understanding at a higher level than just memorizing information.
Furthermore, it also provides a more meaningful and memorable way of connecting complex concepts, by using personal memories or stories. As Albert Einstein famously said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
