The Feynman Technique

How to complete The Feynman Technique

The real test of understanding is explaining a hard idea in plain words a child follows, with no jargon to hide behind. Picking quantum physics or advanced math means you'll hit the gaps in your own knowledge and have to fill them.

1. Pick one concept narrow enough to explain in a few minutes (superposition, entanglement, what a derivative measures).
2. Learn it properly first, then write an explanation using only everyday words and a concrete analogy.
3. Deliver it to an actual 10-year-old (or imagine one) and watch for the exact moment they get confused.
4. Go back to the source on whatever tripped them up, then simplify that part further.
5. Repeat until they can paraphrase the idea back to you correctly.

Tips

• Anchor abstract ideas to things kids know: dice, coins, ramps, balloons.
• If you need a technical term to explain it, you don't understand it well enough yet.
• A wrong-but-vivid analogy beats a correct-but-incomprehensible one for a first pass.

What counts as done

A 10-year-old can restate the concept in their own words and answer a simple question about it.