Learning From the Feynman Technique
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Richard Feynman (1918–1988) "The Great Explainer”
He is considered to be one of the most important physicists of all time.
Feynman was brilliant, eloquent, and an exquisitely passionate thinker who stands unequivocally for his ability to synthesize and explain complex scientific knowledge.The Feynman Technique
Feynman started to record and connect the things he did know with those he did not know, resulting in a thorough notebook of subjects that had been disassembled, translated, and recorded.
We can use this same model to learn new concepts.
“In order to talk to each other, we have to have words, and that’s all right. It’s a good idea to try to see the difference, and it’s a good idea to know when we are teaching the tools of science, such as words, and when we are teaching science itself.”
Richard Feynman
How the Feynman technique works
1. Identify the subject. Write down everything you know about the topic. Each time you run into new sources of information, add them to the note.
2. Teach it to a child. Write plain and simple so even a child can understand what you're talking about.3. Identify your knowledge gaps. What are you missing? What don’t you know?
4. Organize + simplify + Tell a story. Piece together your notes and begin to spin a tale using concise and simple explanations.
Multi-disciplinary approach to learning
“I wanted very much to learn to draw, for a reason that I kept to myself: I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of the world. It’s difficult to describe because it’s an emotion. … It’s a feeling of awe — of scientific awe — which I felt could be communicated through a drawing to someone who had also had that emotion. I could remind him, for a moment, of this feeling about the glories of the universe.”
— Feynman discussing the intersection of art and science.
