Deep Understanding: Feynman, Elaboration, and Interleaving

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you learned spaced repetition — reviewing information at optimal intervals with AI-generated flashcards and SRS algorithms. That system excels at memorizing large volumes of factual information. But some knowledge requires more than memorization. Now you’ll learn techniques for genuine understanding — the kind that lets you apply concepts to new situations, not just recall definitions.

The Feynman Technique

Named after physicist Richard Feynman, who believed you don’t truly understand something until you can explain it simply. The technique has four steps:

Step 1: Choose a concept — Pick something you’re studying.

Step 2: Explain it in simple language — Write an explanation as if teaching a smart 12-year-old. No jargon. No technical terms without plain-language definitions. Use analogies from everyday life.

Step 3: Identify gaps — Where did you get stuck? Where did you fall back on technical vocabulary? Where does your explanation feel hand-wavy? Those gaps are where your understanding is weakest.

Step 4: Simplify and refine — Go back to the source material, fill the gaps, and try again. Repeat until you can explain the entire concept simply and accurately.

AI-enhanced Feynman technique:

I'm trying to explain [concept] simply. Here's my
attempt:

[your explanation]

Evaluate my explanation:
1. Is anything technically inaccurate?
2. Where am I using jargon that a 12-year-old wouldn't
   understand?
3. What important aspects am I missing?
4. Suggest a concrete analogy that would make this
   clearer.

AI acts as the “student” who pushes back on unclear explanations — something that’s hard to do when you’re working alone.

✅ Quick Check: Why does falling back on jargon during the Feynman technique signal a gap in understanding? Because jargon can function as a shortcut that bypasses genuine comprehension. “Inflation reduces purchasing power through monetary expansion” uses correct terms, but you might not actually understand WHY more money reduces purchasing power. The test is whether you can explain the mechanism without the technical vocabulary — “more money chasing the same goods means each dollar buys less.” If you can’t translate jargon to plain language, you’re reciting definitions, not understanding concepts.

Elaboration: Connecting New to Known

Elaboration means actively connecting new information to things you already understand. It creates richer, more interconnected memory traces with multiple retrieval pathways — so if one pathway fails, you can reach the same knowledge through another.

The four elaboration strategies:

1. “Why” Questions

After learning any fact, ask: “Why is this true? Why does this work this way?”

Fact: “Water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude.” Elaboration: “Why? Because air pressure is lower at altitude, and boiling occurs when the vapor pressure of water exceeds the surrounding air pressure. Less air pressure means water molecules need less energy to escape, so they boil at a lower temperature.”

2. “How Does This Connect?” Questions

Link new concepts to things you already know.

New concept: “Sunk cost fallacy” Connection: “This is like when I kept watching that terrible movie because I’d already paid $15 for the ticket — the $15 was gone regardless of whether I stayed or left. The rational choice was to leave, but the ‘cost already spent’ kept me in my seat.”

3. “What If?” Questions

Explore the boundaries of a concept by changing variables.

Concept: “Supply and demand” What if: “What if there were only one supplier of clean water in a desert town? Normal supply/demand assumes competition — how does monopoly change the equilibrium?”

4. “Contrast” Questions

Compare and distinguish similar concepts.

Concepts: “Sympathy vs. empathy” Contrast: “Sympathy is feeling sorry FOR someone (external observation); empathy is feeling WITH someone (internal sharing of their experience). I can sympathize with a pilot during turbulence without ever having flown — but I can empathize with exam anxiety because I’ve experienced it.”

AI elaboration prompt:

I'm studying [concept]. Help me elaborate with:
1. A "why does this work this way" explanation
2. A connection to an everyday experience I'd already
   understand
3. A "what if we changed X" thought experiment
4. A comparison with a similar concept that highlights
   the key differences

Make each elaboration conversational, not textbook-style.

Interleaving: Mixing for Mastery

Interleaving means mixing different but related topics within a single study session, rather than mastering one topic before moving to the next.

Blocked practice (traditional): Study Topic A until done → Study Topic B until done → Study Topic C until done

Interleaved practice: Study A for 15 min → Study B for 15 min → Study C for 15 min → Compare A and B → Compare B and C → Compare all three

Why interleaving works: It forces your brain to discriminate between similar concepts. When you study classical conditioning for 40 minutes, everything feels clear because you’re only thinking about one framework. But on the exam, when you need to distinguish classical from operant conditioning, you haven’t practiced that discrimination.

Subjects where interleaving is especially powerful:

AI interleaving prompt:

I'm studying these three related topics: [A], [B], [C].

Generate a mixed practice set that interleaves them:
1. A question about A
2. A question about B
3. A question requiring comparison of A and B
4. A question about C
5. A question requiring distinction between B and C
6. A question combining concepts from all three

This helps me practice discriminating between similar
concepts, not just recognizing them in isolation.

✅ Quick Check: Why does interleaving feel less productive than blocked study even though it produces better results? Because blocked study creates a false sense of fluency — after 40 minutes on one topic, you feel like you’ve mastered it. You can answer questions easily because you know what type of question is coming. Interleaving disrupts this fluency. You’re constantly shifting gears, which feels slower and less smooth. But that shifting is exactly what builds the discrimination ability that exams test. The discomfort is the learning.

Key Takeaways

• The Feynman technique reveals understanding gaps by forcing you to explain concepts in simple language — falling back on jargon without being able to translate it to plain language signals recitation, not comprehension
• Elaboration creates richer memory traces by connecting new information to existing knowledge through four strategies: asking “why,” connecting to personal experience, exploring “what if” scenarios, and contrasting similar concepts
• Interleaving — mixing related topics within a single study session — produces 20-40% better test performance than blocked practice because it builds the discrimination ability that exams actually require
• AI enhances all three techniques: it evaluates Feynman explanations for accuracy and gaps, generates elaboration prompts that connect concepts, and creates interleaved practice sets that mix related topics

Up Next: You’ll build a personalized study schedule with AI — allocating time to subjects, balancing techniques, and adapting to your specific goals and timeline.