The Feynman Technique

October 17, 2019

The Feynman Technique

Have you heard of the Feynman Technique? If you want to learn something - really learn something - the 4 steps proposed by Richard Feynman, a Nobel prize winning physicist, can help. The 4 basics steps of the Feynman Technique are shown below but in a nutshell, they are: 1) Pick a concept and write it out as if you were explaining it to a child (no big, hairy technical words or jargon); 2) identify areas where you had trouble explaining the concept. This is where there are gaps in your knowledge. Go back and find the information you need and study it so that you can now explain that information to an 8 year old; 3) organize your notes and organize them into a story that is again, simple and easy to understand. If there are still confusing parts, go back and rewrite your summary story; 4) Tell someone else about it. A good way to see if you really understand something is to try to explain it to someone else.  (We can use this last step in safety training - more on that in tomorrow's post).  Take a look at the infographic below which summarizes a description of the Feynman technique that was originally posted on the Farnham Street blog.  What do you want to learn next? Can you try the Feynman Technique and see if it works?

feynman infographic.png





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