Learning the way to learn | How to learn anything ?

Learning the way to learn | How to learn anything?

 Many of us say that we know or have knowledge, whenever we are asked about the topic we are familiar with. But does that actually mean you have understood it well enough ? Hmm…

          If a friend of yours, comes and asks you to explain about something, you might have told him what you know about the topic but couldn't have explained it clearly or you probably might have confused him even more…

 Why does that happen ?  what is it indicating ? Is it indicating the lack of understanding about the topic in us ?

 

If you want to master something, teach it.                                                                          -Richard Feynman

 

  The Feynman technique - devised by Richard Feynman – an incredible physicist, who shared Nobel prize with two other scientists for their work on quantum electrodynamics.

        Even more importantly, he was an amazing teacher. He is widely regarded as “The Great Explainer” because he could explain complex ideas in fun and interesting way.

Bill Gates called him the best teacher he never had. Richard Feynman introduced this technique which is now called the Feynman technique.

 This technique is about how well can you explain something, better the explanation, better is your understanding about the topic.

        Using this technique, you will be able to learn anything faster, new concepts, to prepare for your exams and seminars, study efficiently, learn tough subjects and mainly helps you in better understanding of any concept/topic and also remember it for a longer time.

 

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”                                                                                                                                         -Albert Einstein  

 

The Feynman technique

Step 1 : Take a sheet of paper and write down everything  you know about the topic in a simple and plain language. Put down all your thoughts. 

Don’t worry if the facts are unorganized, just pen down everything you know about the topic.

Step 2 : After writing, organize them now. Check where did you find difficulty in penning down your thoughts, see if there’s any complex language used, work on by breaking it down to a simple language. 

In case you didn’t know something, go back to your reading material and add notes.

 

Step 3 : It’s now time for you to test your understanding, by explaining the concept to others of what you have learnt. The idea here is to keep your explanation simple and concise.

        Collect feedback from your audience and see if  

• You didn’t know something again (when audience asked you questions and you couldn’t answer)
• Identify the areas where you felt your explanation was shaky.
•  Check whether your audience couldn’t understand something.

Look for the gaps, do the home work and come back with a different audience this time and repeat the step 3 until you have mastered the topic.

That's all !!

 

Why should you explain?

       The reason why explaining a topic is important because, explaining helps your mind to arrange the facts in a sequence. When your thoughts are in a sequence, your brain doesn’t need much work and you will put it out easily.

       It helps you deepen your thought process and thus increasing your level of understanding. It also helps remember stuff for a long period of time, simply because you have worked a lot on it.

       Another key thing to note is that, if anywhere in your explanation you see that you have used technical terms or complex terminologies, challenge yourself by explaining it in simpler terms so that it can be understood by someone who doesn’t have the knowledge base you believe you already have.

     Don’t stop with a simple definition. Examples are easy way to understand a concept in a better way. Give more examples and analogies. It enhances your level of understanding about the concept as well adds a credit to your explanation. 

   Try to connect with your audience by relating the concept to their daily life or by analogies.

 

 Think like a child

       The best mindset I believe, to adopt, is to “think like a child”, one reason being that  kids are naturally curious and if you were to explain a concept to a 5 year old child, say a formula in mechanics, the child will be quick to ask –

Why does that formula work in that way ? What is that which you call them as assumptions ? Why do you consider them ?.... Why ? How?

Grown-ups tend to accept everything that is told/taught to them without questioning, and sometimes their knowledge itself is built on assumptions.

But children are very quick to point out to their confusion and ask questions and adopting this mindset will be a good challenge for you and kind of a brain exercise for those who have stopped questioning, to explain a concept such that even a child can understand it.

             Thinking like a child helps you get deeper into the topic, to check whether you have a good sound on fundamentals and thereby having a good hold on the topic and deepening your level of understanding about the topic.

 

                    KEEP LEARNING !!  

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