Each of us has encountered an expert of one form or another, be it in economics, linguistics, physics, music among other fields. What interests us about these people is the mastery of content they have in their respective fields; the way they are able to explain cause and effect and make accurate predictions in their work. For others, it is the way they move you when they talk about what you know. But how do they get to this level of proficiency? In this article, we are going to look at a way of achieving such through the Feynman technique.
Mention the name Richard Philips Feynman to anyone with a basic understanding of modern physics
and you will see their face light up like a cartoon light bulb. If physics were rock and roll, Feynman would be Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger. Feynman is famous for his work in Quantum electrodynamics; a branch of physics that explains how subatomic particles interact, and the forces and fields through which they interact. For this reason, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in the year 1965, which he shared with Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and Julian Schwinger.
What is the Feynman Tehcnique?
The Feynman technique is a simple approach to self-directed learning which enables you to make the most of your learning experience and leave you with the ability to retain what you have learned. This technique applies in all areas of study, be it physics, law, business, or whatever you are interested in. The beauty of this technique is that it is not just limited to science-related fields but can cut across all fields
Getting it right
The first step in the Feynman technique is in figuring out what you want to learn about.
Make notes of specifics you would like to learn about a given topic on a piece of paper and avoid the use of big terms. This will further simplify your comprehension of the topic.
Secondly, ensure that you try out a few quizzes to familiarize yourself with the concepts through practice and give as many examples as possible. This process helps in identifying what you know about the subject. You will find that in the beginning, it is a bit difficult to give clear and concise explanations to whatever you are trying to learn. This will help expose what you don’t know. After all, if you cannot explain it in the simplest terms, then you don’t understand it as well as you think you do.
You can also try explaining what you know to a friend or write a blog about it, or better still, make videos about it. Take note of the areas that you find hard to explain or those that you use large words to compensate.
Third, read out whatever you have written down. While writing down helps show what you know about the subject matter, reading it out loud to yourself helps identify gaps in knowledge, and show what you are missing in terms of knowledge. Look for places where explanations are vague or incomplete, or where hard terms are used to cover up for a lack of knowledge.
The fourth step involves going back to the source material and trying to cover gaps in the knowledge you may have. You can try and use new sources, listen to experts on the subject matter, or read books from a different perspective. Try to note what each source is telling you because two sources may have the same content relayed in different ways. Identify a common thread in the sources as well as their differences and note them down. This may come in handy whenever there is a need to recommend the sources to a friend.
Why you should care
As you work your way with the Feynman Technique, you will not only get better at what you want to do but you will also discover your weaknesses as well as subject matters you may not have understood well.
The Feynman technique can also be effectively used as a replacement for rote learning (the process of memorizing information based on repetition) which is tortuous and useless. It can be used
to stimulate young minds in an age where understanding is much more advantageous than just
knowledge. Perhaps, most importantly, it ensures you don’t deceive yourself that you know a lot: after all, you are the easiest person to deceive.
A pop-culture character who best exemplifies this technique, in my own understanding, is Po from DreamWork's Kung Fu Panda 3. Po; a kung fu master takes the next step in his journey by teaching, which consequentially leads him to become a better Kung fu Master.
Feynman learned humility and was able to become one of the greatest teachers ever. I hope you can learn from him too and become an expert in your field. P.s, this is an exam cheat-sheet. Use it wisely
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