Learning and memorizing is one of the biggest obstacles in society. Very few people have a learning system, so they usually resort to repetition. However, there are many ways to simplify this process. In fact, Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work in quantum electrodynamics, had a really easy trick.
This physicist believed in simplicity. For him, simplicity was the key to learning. Feynman argued that things were easier to retain when they were kept simpler.
It should be noted that everything seems simpler for a person who worked on the Manhattan Project when he was only 20 years old. However, Feynman has enough weight in his words to consider them an argument from authority.
“Do not fool yourself”
It is of little use to have a head full of verbiage extracted from textbooks, banal knowledge retained through long memorized sentences. In fact, that is not learning. “Don’t try to fool yourself, you are the easiest person to fool”said the physicist.
With these words, Feynman tried to explain that one has to realize that memorizing is not learning, and that it is not the same to retain knowledge as it is to retain a set of serial words placed in such a way as to construct a sentence.
Learning should serve to better understand the world. To do this, the physicist relied on four simple steps, as collected Insider:
1. Choose a topic and start studying it
This is the first step. There always has to be a starting point and, in this case, it is choosing the field in which one wants to learn. It should be noted that this technique works for any subject, it is not limited to mathematics and physics.
2. Explain the topic to a child
It is not a question of following this step to the letter, it is not necessary to bore a young child to retain knowledge. The idea is that the student repeats what they have learned as if they were teaching it to a minor.
So create a speech using simple words and basic sentences. Thus, the person will divide the subject into simple ideas and will have a greater capacity to realize the aspects in which it presents greater gaps.
3. Go back to study material when you’re stuck
If in carrying out step number two, the student has identified several gaps, it will be time to go back to the study material and take another look at it.
This step will be repeated until it is possible to carry out phase two without problem. That is, you will always have to turn to the notes or books you are studying until you are able to explain the subject in your own words without presenting difficulties.
This technique will allow knowledge to be retained better than when it is simply trying to memorize, which usually disappears once they fulfill their teaching purpose.
4. Organize and review
This is the final step, a recognition phase. It is about checking that the student has retained all the necessary information. Are you able to speak fluently on the subject? Can you explain in simple words all the relevant aspects? Could you have a conversation talking about this field?
These are the questions that the student has to ask himself. If you cannot answer yes to all of them, you must go back to steps two and three until the answer is a resounding yes.
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