O Americano Outra Vez by Richard Feynman

After reading “O Americano Outra Vez”, which is written by Richard Feynman, I found that there is a significant difference between understanding something and knowing something. Feynman differentiates the two, one may think that it is similar, through the experience he taught Brazilian students the concepts of physics. Brazilian students only memorized the concepts without really understanding it. I also noticed an interesting point relating to that kind of difference. There is commonplace that can be applied to many different teaching styles.  And it ultimately makes students understanding more behind the material, not just memorizing the terminologies.

To Begin with, one may think of that there is a certain perspective against the elementary subject. It is that they are based on memorization and facts. Some teachers just talk about definitions and formulas but little to no real life application behind the concepts. At one point Feynman uses the phrase “meaningful word”. He is referring to an instance where his students had memorized numerous definitions, none of them knew the exactly meaning of the definitions. Situations such as these constantly happened throughout my academic career, especially in high school.

When I was in high school, I was required to take at least two electives. And I thought I was good at scientific subjects, physics and biology became my final decision. In order to pass the DSE, which is an entrance toward university for Hong Kong students, I had to memorize countless terms and definitions. My biology teacher had an interesting method to help their students not only memorize, but also completely understand each term. He required us to make a card for each concept and to write down at least one real life example on the back of the card. Without understanding the concepts, it is difficult to give such an example. Once I wrote down my answer, I seemed to give the definitions “meaning”.  Therefore, this teaching style allowed us the ability to not only memorize the definition but also fully comprehend it. Moreover, at the beginning of the article, Feynman illustrates an interesting point. He said that if a teacher could not explain the concept clearly to a college freshman, the teacher did not really understand it themselves. I believe that explaining the concepts clearly is a necessary attribute of a great teacher. A teacher cannot do this without understanding the material. If the teacher is only memorizing the terms and does not truly comprehend the subject, the students just follow their way of learning and become a product of the teacher. In which they have various definitions memorized without any concrete method to actually understand the meaning behind that is being taught.

The act of asking question plays an important role in leaning knowledge. Posing a question in class is one of best ways to learn about something. A discussion could be drawn up when other classmates share their opinions. And It might ultimately help us, probably also our teachers, having better comprehension of the subject. Asking a simple question is a learning tool for both the student and the teacher. The student obtains more about the meaning of subject and the teacher learns more about the better way their students be able to grasp the information. If there is a better way to learn the concept, the student would not just memorize or recite. Feynman always gave real life examples by asking simple question about the concept when teaching physic. He gradually guided his students to ask questions too. By this way, his students were not just memorizing the definitions but also reflecting the exact meaning behind them. For my own experience, in a previous Image Processing course I took, I was confused with sentences of formula. I knew the definitions just as I was taught. However, I had lost when I had to process a digital image based on these formulas. How can I translate these formulas to programming language? I simply asked my teacher to provide a step-by-step application for the formulas. Once my teacher was able to find a relatable example to explain the meaning behind the definition there was far less confusion and a greater general understanding. After all, it was the questions I had asked that sparked an interest and it encouraged my teacher to provide an illustration to which we could apply and understand the material.

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