The Feynman technique: learn anything by explaining it simply
The Feynman technique is a way to check whether you really understand something: try to explain it in simple words, as if to someone who knows nothing about it. Wherever you get stuck, you've found a gap.
It's named after Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist famous for explaining difficult ideas clearly. Feynman didn't write it down as a "technique" himself – the four steps below are a popular summary of his approach to learning.
The four steps
1. Pick a topic and write it at the top of a page
For example: photosynthesis, how a bill becomes law, why we have seasons, what a fraction is.
2. Explain it in plain words
Write (or say out loud) an explanation for a 12-year-old. No jargon you can't explain, no copying from the book. Use examples and comparisons.
3. Find the gaps and go back
Where did you get stuck? Where did you use a word you couldn't really explain, or skip a step with "and then somehow…"? Those are your gaps. Go back to your notes or textbook, fill them in, and try again.
4. Simplify
Read your explanation again. Can you make it shorter and clearer? Can you add a better example? When you can explain it simply from start to finish, you understand it.
An example
Topic: why we have seasons.
First try: "Seasons happen because the Earth is closer to the Sun in summer."
Checking: that's a common mistake – and it can't be right, because when it's summer in the north it's winter in the south. The real reason is the tilt of the Earth's axis.
Second try: "The Earth is tilted. As it goes around the Sun, first one half and then the other leans towards the Sun. The half leaning towards the Sun gets more direct sunlight and longer days – that's summer there. At the same time, the other half has winter."
The first attempt revealed a misunderstanding that re-reading might never have caught.
Why explaining works
Explaining forces you to put ideas in your own words, connect them and notice what's missing. Research on self-explanation supports this. In a classic study, Michelene Chi and colleagues found that physics students who learned more from worked examples were the ones who explained each step to themselves as they studied. Later reviews rated self-explanation a useful study technique, especially combined with testing yourself.
Tips
- Say it out loud or teach it to a friend, a parent – or a pet.
- Use a blank page. If you look at your notes while explaining, you're reading, not recalling.
- Draw it. A simple diagram is often the clearest explanation.
- Do it again a few days later to check it stuck. Spaced repetition.
In TONEC STUDY
After every answer, TONEC STUDY shows a short explanation of why it's right. Try reading the question, explaining the answer to yourself before you look – then compare.
The research
- Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P., & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13(2).
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1).