Have you ever thought that you understood something, only to realise that when you tried to explain it, you hadn’t got a clue what you were talking about?
Rather than feeling downcast in such a situation, we should see it as an opportunity, according to learning experts.
Trying to explain a topic in simple terms is an excellent way to reveal holes and grey areas in knowledge and understanding, and therefore to help us learn.
A well-known advocate of this teach-to-learn approach was Nobel Prize-winning physicist , who made big contributions to quantum mechanics and particle physics.
What is the Feynman technique?
Richard Feynman (1918 to 1988) often shared insights into how he approached complex physics concepts, breaking them down with clarity and simplicity.
His method of learning and refining ideas has since been formalised into what is known as the Feynman technique.
It consists of four steps:
Stages of the Feynman technique
- Start by picking a topic you want to learn or revise and studying it.
- Try to teach it, either to yourself - by writing simple summaries from memory - or ideally to someone else who will question you on it.
- Return to the source material if there are any areas you can’t remember or understand.
- Refine and further clarify, simplifying your explanations.
How can it be used to help students revise?
The Feynman technique is useful for students because it forces them to be intentional about what they are going to revise, rather than flicking through textbooks feeling lost. By picking a topic and deciding to master it, it ensures a degree of focus.
Teachers can use the technique to help students revise by sending each one home with a topic to prepare to teach the class later, without notes. The student then takes questions from the class and the teacher.
Over several lessons, all students could take turns to teach their concept in front of the class.
Alternatively, teachers could encourage students to study a topic and teach it to a partner in class, with the person in the learner role asking questions if something is unclear.
What does the research say?
There isn’t a single large-scale study exploring whether the Feynman technique works, but the basic principles behind it (such as active recall, self-explanation and identifying knowledge gaps) are all backed up by research in cognitive psychology. And the has been backed up by numerous studies.
Another piece of research into the so-called “protégé effect” found that the mere .
Tips and tools for success
One study suggested that the reason why people learn by teaching is because it is essentially a form of retrieval practice, therefore the “teaching” - whether written or out loud - should be done without notes.
The Feynman technique is not believed to be particularly useful for revising heavy memorisation-based topics and has been criticised for being time-consuming, so be selective about when you use it.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
