Feynman technique, named after the physicist Richard Feynman helps us understand concepts at a deeper level. Explaining a concept to someone as simple as possible lies at the heart of this technique.
The quote attributed to Einstein best encapsulates the idea behind the Feynman technique and the quote is “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
While concepts like Electric field intensity can get tricky to understand, the Feynman technique can be employed to understand the concept better. Without further ado, let’s walk through the Feynman technique.
Step1: Choose a concept
The first step is to choose the concept you want to understand. Take a piece of paper and write down everything you know about the subject. Every time you learn something new about the subject, write it down in the note.
Step 2: Teach it to a child
If you can teach it to a child, you are way ahead of the game. Pick a topic you want to teach and write everything you know about it in a sheet of paper. Write it using simple language so that a child can understand what you are talking about clearly. Following things are taken into consideration:
- Speaking in plain terms
Children don’t understand jargons and lexicon of dense vocabulary. Hence it is necessary to incorporate plain terms.
- Brevity
The attention span of a child requires you to deliver concepts as if you were to pitch a business idea during a short elevator trip. You better pitch the idea before the elevator door opens because children don’t have the mental capacity to understand anything longer than that.
Step 3: Identify your knowledge gaps
This is the point where real learning happens. What is that you are missing? What don’t you know? Highlighting knowledge gaps will help you collect and organise notes into a cohesive story. If you don’t know something, don’t hesitate to hit the books and compile information that will fill your gaps.
Step 4: Organise + Simplify + Tell a story
Start to tell your story. Put together your notes and begin to spin a tale using simple but clear explanations. Bring the most essential portions of your knowledge about the topic together. Practise reading aloud. This way you will understand where the language stops being simple, and stumbles could mean incomplete thoughts.
This technique is designed to help you study for exams and learn new concepts. Implement the Feynman technique to your study routine and understand concepts such as what is an electromagnet comprehensively.
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