**Learn a subject better by teaching it to a child.**
> If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough
> - _nobody actually knows, it's often misattributed to Einstein_
Not developed by Richard Feynman, but was developed to emulate how he approached things.
The primary objective of the **Feynman Technique** is to learn about a subject by teaching it to children, **being concise and using simple words**.
# The Feynman Technique for Learning a Subject
1. Write down all that you know about it
2. Rewrite it as if you were explaining it to a child
- Children have small vocabularies. Remove [[Avoid Jargon|jargon]]. Put it as simply as possible, but no simpler. Create & utilize accessible analogies.
- Children have short attention spans. Say what’s important. Then get out.
3. Look for gaps in your knowledge
- Where do you have to make jumps in your explanations?
- These areas warrant further research.
4. Tell your story.
# Why Learn by Teaching to Children?
Teaching to a child forces you to break down complexity. You cannot hide behind big vocabulary words. You have to truly understand a topic to be able to adequately teach it to a child. When you break things down far enough and try to weave them into a story, you’ll find gaps in your understanding. These gaps are your jump off points for further research.
# My Implementation of the Technique
I realized today that [http://www.aarongilly.com/gillespedia](http://www.aarongilly.com/gillespedia) is just an implementation of the Feynman technique.
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## Source
- [[Learning from the Feynman Technique]]
- [[Ultralearning]]
## Related
- [[Essentialism]]
- [[Learn by Doing]]
- [[Rubber Ducking]]