Subido por Charly

Articulo -Learn Anything Faster By Using The Feynman Technique

Learn Anything Faster By Using
The Feynman Technique
Sunnylabh
Follow
Oct 9 · 6 min read
Feynman illustration by Sunny Labh inspired by ZenPencils
R
ichard Feynman is considered to be one of the most miraculous
personalities in scientific history. The 1965 Nobel prize winner on
QED (along with J. Schwinger and Tomonaga), Dr. Feynman was a
remarkably amazing educator and a great physicist. Feynman, along with
many other contributions to science, had created a mathematical theory
that accounts for the phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid helium.
Thereafter, he had fundamental contributions (along with Murray GellMann) to weak interactions such as beta decay. In his later years, Feynman
played a significant role in the development of quark theory by putting
forward his Parton model of high energy proton collision processes. He also
introduced basic new computational techniques and notations into physics.
Besides being a physicist, he was at various times repairer of radios, a picker
of locks, an artist, a dancer, a bongo player, a great teacher, and a showman
who successfully demonstrated the cause of the 1986 Challenger Shuttle
Disaster as part of the Roger’s Commission.
A truer description would have said that Feynman was all genius and all
buffoon. The deep thinking and the joyful clowning were not separate parts of
a split personality… He was thinking and clowning simultaneously.” —
Freeman Dyson, 1988 remark on Feynman.
Feynman at Caltech
The genius of Richard Feynman in evident from his three-volume books on
physics called The Feynman Lectures on Physics, which are based on his
lectures at Caltech during 1961–1963.
In his teenage years, Richard Feynman’s high school did not offer any
courses on calculus. As a high-school teenager, he decided to teach himself
calculus and read Calculus for the Practical Man.
Credits: Melinda Baldwin
Feynman always believed that if one cannot explain something in simple
terms, one doesn’t understand it. A similar quotation is attributed to Albert
Einstein as well. Whether or not it originally comes from Feynman, the idea
is elegantly true and is, in fact, the basis for the Feynman technique of
learning things. Feynman is often attributed as The Great Explainer for his
ability to explain complicated concepts in science, particularly physics, in
extremely simple and understandable manner, in a way that in people from
a non-scientific background could understand.
He opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: NOTEBOOK OF
THINGS I DON’T KNOW ABOUT. For the first but not last time he reorganized
his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics,
oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the
raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each
subject. — James Gleick on his biography of Richard Feynman
What is the Feynman technique?
The Feynman technique of Learning primarily involves four simple steps:
> Pick a topic you want to understand and start studying it
> Pretend to teach the topic to a classroom or a child or someone who
is unfamiliar with the topic
> Go back to the resource material when you get stuck
> Simplify and Organize
Step-1:
This technique is applicable to pretty much any discipline or any subject and
concept despite the fact that it says the Feynman technique, it is not just
limited to math or physics and can be applied to a wide range of fields. The
first step to use this technique is to choose the topic and start studying it.
Now, studying doesn’t mean just memorizing the facts. In fact, Feynman
himself was always against the culture of memorization and he always
believed that one should learn and understand the principles rather than
memorizing the facts or formulae. Another good method of studying
something is to write. Writing something on a piece of paper stimulates the
Hippocampus of your brain, the part which is primarily responsible for
memory and learning.
Step-2:
If you want to master something, teach it. Teaching is a powerful tool for
learning.
Explain the concepts in your own words and try to explain it to a child or
someone who is completely unfamiliar with the topic. You can also pretend
to explain it to a rubber duck that in on your table. The idea is to try and
break things down in as much simpler and plain language as possible. Try to
use simple terms and vocabularies and don’t limit yourself to just the facts
that you’ve learned. You may as well include an example or two to make
things simpler or create your own example making sure that it is associated
with the main idea. It becomes much easier for you to understand things at
a deeper level if you do so and helps you make connections.
All things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual
motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but
repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence … there is
an enormous amount of information about the world.
- His suggestion that the most valuable information on scientific knowledge
in a single sentence using the fewest words is to state the atomic
hypothesis.
Prof. Feynman
@ProfFeynman
If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you
don't understand it.
11:48 PM · Oct 5, 2021
28.5K
196
Share this Tweet
Tweet your reply
Step-3:
This is an extremely crucial step where you learn where you are lacking. As
you are explaining or writing things in simple terms, you always come
across certain areas where you are find it difficult to explain or make
connections or formulate examples. This is the point where you get back to
the resource material, the books or journals or internet, whatever your
primary references are, and fill the gaps in your knowledge. You can
identify your gaps by several instances, like not being able to explain
something or simplify something, forgetting some important points and so
on. The idea is to get back, and revise things once again. This helps you
understand things even better. In this step, you know the areas that you
need to work on and focus on which is a significant part of the learning
process. Knowing one’s limitations and then working upon them to
understand them better is the point of this step and it works like magic.
Step-4:
Here comes the product now. Once you have corrected your mistakes and
straightened your difficulties, you simplify your explanation and make it
better. You can always go back to Step-2 and Step-3 until you have a clearcut understanding of the subject matter. Your notes and examples are now
in the simplest form possible and you have a deeper understanding of the
topic under study. You can follow this approach over and over again till you
feel like you have mastered the concept.
Dr. Feynman teaching at Caltech
After your final explanation is ready, you can convey it to your colleagues or
friends or professionals who are familiar with your field of expertise and
reflect back upon your understanding of things. This Test-and-Learn
method works wonders. Feynman always believed that the truth lies in
simplicity and that things can be better understood when they are simple
and elegant. It is much easier to overcomplicate things, which often shows
the lack of deep understanding. The idea is to make things simple enough
to be understood by anyone and then using that tool for deeper
understanding for yourself.
The Feynman technique of Learning helps you learn and understand things
by a different perspective. It can be used not just for academic purposes but
also for building businesses, creating startups, mental models, and many
more. The Feynman Technique is a great method to develop mastery over
pretty much set of information.
Subscribe Now!
Subscribe here to get my articles directly to your email inboxes.
Subscribe
Emails will be sent to carlosperea.movil@gmail.com.
Not you?
Feynman
Learning
Science Fiction
Physics Tutor
Feynmantechnique
Learn more.
Make Medium yours.
Write a story on Medium.
Medium is an open platform where 170 million
readers come to find insightful and dynamic
thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices
alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new
ideas to the surface. Learn more
Follow the writers, publications, and topics that
matter to you, and you’ll see them on your
homepage and in your inbox. Explore
If you have a story to tell, knowledge to share, or a
perspective to offer — welcome home. It’s easy and
free to post your thinking on any topic. Start a blog
About Write Help Legal