If you can explain it
to a teddy, you really know it
This technique has a posh name — the Feynman Technique — but I prefer "Teach a Teddy." When you can explain something in simple words, you actually know it. When you stumble, you've just found a gap. The stumbling is gold.
What it is
When you really, really know something, you can explain it to anyone. A friend. Your little brother. A teddy bear. A pet hamster.
When you only sort-of know something, you stumble. You reach for big words you can't actually explain. You skip the bits you don't really get. You wave your hands a lot.
That stumbling tells you exactly what you don't really know yet — and that's the bit you need to fix.
Richard Feynman was a really famous scientist. He won a Nobel Prize for physics. But the thing he was even more famous for was being able to explain super-hard ideas in simple, easy words.
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
That single sentence is the whole technique.
How to do it
- Pick one concept you find confusing
- Sit down with a teddy bear (or a pet, or a parent)
- Write the concept name at the top of a page
- Explain it in plain English, like teaching a 6-year-old
- Notice where you got stuck — that's a gap
- Open your book and study only the gap
- Try the explanation again — see if it flows
A kid using it
Meet Sophie. She's in Year 6. She's been learning about photosynthesis for a science test. She thought she knew it. The flashcards all came up green. But every time her teacher asks her about it in class, she freezes.
Sophie sits down with her teddy bear (yes, really). She tries to explain photosynthesis to him.
"Okay, Mr Bear. So plants make their food using... um... sunlight and water and... carbon dioxide. They use these things to make glucose. Which is sugar. And they release oxygen."
She stops. She notices three places she got stuck:
- She said "they use these things" but couldn't explain HOW the plant actually puts them together
- She knew chlorophyll was involved but couldn't remember what it does
- She said "they release oxygen" but couldn't say WHY — was it a waste product, or did the plant choose to release it?
Three gaps. Three things to fix. Sophie opens her textbook and reads only the bits that cover those three things. Twenty minutes later, she tries the teddy bear talk again. This time it flows.
She gets full marks on the test.
This activity needs a friendly listener. A parent, a sibling, a friend, or yes — a teddy bear.
- Pick a topic you've been studying
- Sit down with your listener
- Explain the topic to them as if they know nothing about it
- Use simple, everyday words. No fancy school words unless you can explain them.
- Every time you get stuck, say "I don't know how to explain this bit" out loud
- Note the bits where you got stuck
- Go and study those bits
- Try the explanation again the next day
When you explain something out loud, your brain works harder than when you just think about it. That's because speech is slower than thinking. When you slow down to put thoughts into words, you can't skip the bits you don't understand. Your brain is forced to actually do the work.
That's why teaching someone else — even a teddy bear — locks information into your memory better than just reading it.
Mistake 1 — Using big words to hide gaps. "Photosynthesis is a complex biochemical process whereby autotrophic organisms..." Sounds clever. Means nothing if you can't explain "biochemical process" or "autotrophic organisms" in plain English.
The rule: if you use a fancy word, you have to be able to explain it like you're talking to a 5-year-old.
Mistake 2 — Doing it in your head. You think the explanation in your head, you feel like it works, you move on. It doesn't work that way. Your brain is sneaky — it skips over gaps without telling you. You have to say it out loud or write it down.
Quick check
1. Who was the Feynman Technique named after?
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
2. What's the famous quote that explains the whole technique?
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
3. What do you do when you get stuck during your explanation?
Note the gap, go and study only that bit, then try again the next day.
Pick a concept. Try to explain it to a teddy, a pet, or a person. Notice where you stumble. Fix the gap. Try again until you can explain the whole thing without big words. Your teddy will never judge you for getting it wrong. That's why he's the best study partner you'll ever have.