This article contains the life story of Richard Feynman and how we can more easily understand a material by teaching others
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What if one minus one is not zero, but two? Is it possible to give one item to someone else that makes us have two things? Richard Feynman, if still alive, would clearly smile and say maybe.
Mark Kac, a mathematician said that in this world there are two types of geniuses. The first type is ordinary genius, who, if we try a little harder, we might be on par with him. The second type of genius is magicians. Nobody ever knew the mystery behind the way he thought.
Richard Feynman is the second type.
Stepping on junior high school, the hair on my neck stands every Tuesday morning. Because, my first class was filled by Pak Yadi, a physics teacher whose voice was too soft. Mathematics is like putting my brain in a pot and boiling it. So physics is that my brain is put into a pan, boiled, drained, the water is drunk … and my brain is thrown into a pond so it is a catfish snack.
Something is wrong with physics, I thought at the time. And I never wanted to find out where it came from.
In contrast to me, Feynman was born with curiosity that can kill cats. When I loved playing Tamiya at the age of eleven, he liked to disassemble the radio. For Feynman, turning the screw, removing components, and replacing them again became a kind of calming activity. His hobby is even known by his neighbors so he was nicknamed a kid who was able to fix the radio just by thinking.
Feynman always has fun with what he does. For him, nature is a playground and science tools to track it. The anti-theft alarm he made to work on his parents is one proof of his prankiness in “playing with knowledge”.
At the age of 20 years, Feynman was able to simplify the theory of quantum electrodynamics which flattened into a simple diagram. He named it the Feynman diagram. Where did he get this idea? Oh, from the plates that are rotated in the campus canteen.
This intelligence earned him a Nobel Prize. Feynman is indeed not a typical person who is happy with awards. “For me, being able to explain something to ordinary people is more valuable than receiving a nobel prize,” he said during a speech.
He also proved a mathematical theory that explained the peculiarities of liquid helium at almost absolute zero temperatures. He even solved the great mystery of the explosion of the challenger plane and made it understandable to the layman.
Also read: Let’s take a peek at How to Study World Scientists
According to him, learning is not about gathering all information for yourself. He prefers to think of learning as a playful and casual activity. And this is the magician’s secret: he learns from simplification, having fun, while teaching it to others.
Of course, this method is not just a theory. In Learning-by-teaching. Evidence and Implications as a Pedagogical Mechanism, David Duran said that explaining one thing to others is a way to test how our minds review information, and turn it into science. And this is better than explaining a material to ourselves.
Annis has conducted research in The Processes and Effects of Peer Tutoring . He divided 130 students into five groups. The first group was taught a material, group two read the material, group three read and taught the material, group four learned the material and tried to teach it to other students (not really teaching), while the last group learned and explained the contents of the material to other students.
The results are predictable: the group of five is the student who understands the material best.
In fact, teaching does not only make us more “learn”. Sascha Stollhans in Learning by Teaching: Developing Transferable Skills revealed that the impact is further than that. He also instilled the skills needed by an employee. Such as self-confidence, communication skills, and creativity.
Or in other words, teaching automatically makes us reliable learners.
Giving knowledge to others makes us have more knowledge. Then one minus one is no longer zero, but two.
Today, February 15, we remember it. Thirty-two years ago, Richard Feynman died of stomach cancer. 69 years old.
If Richard Feynman could fall in love with physics, maybe I was wrong. During this time I consider physics as a collection of formulas that must be memorized. In fact, it is more than just that: physics is about communicating with nature. Nature is so beautiful and that’s all we have. And like love, natural beauty always brings lots of questions. So with physics, little by little we will be able to answer it, get new questions, and try to answer them again, and we will always learn from there.
Now, you already know a lot, right, about Richard Feynman. It turns out that learning really should be designed with cool and just wrote, no need to be burdened and feared. Hayo, who has ever felt that after teaching a friend, the material you are learning is even more entered and stuck to the brain. Try writing in the comments column! If you are looking for someone who wants to teach you school material, there are plenty of expert tutors waiting for you in the study room, you know!
