Communicating Science Through Analogies

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00:04:44 The Law of the Instrument

00:09:05 How to Develop Better Mental Models

00:09:50 To develop your ability to use and create better models, try the following: Expose Yourself to a Variety of Ideas The key is variety.

00:10:40 Always Connect

00:11:24 Cultivate Metacognition

00:16:43 In the Lankavatara (a third- or fourth-century Mahayana Buddhist sutra), there is a passage

00:23:55 How to Make Your Own Analogies

00:29:39 How to Teach Like Feynman

00:30:24 The Protégé Effect

00:37:29 How to Explain Anything to Anyone

00:39:07 I is for Introduce

00:40:00 R is for Relate

00:40:31 A is for Apply

00:41:29 D is for Demonstrate

00:42:05 E is for Examine

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• A model is a map of reality and a scaled down, simplified representation of something in the world. Feynman’s genius rested on the power of his mental models and maps of reality and his ability to switch between them. Kaplan’s law of the instrument says that “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” To better solve problems, have more tools in your inventory and become better at choosing which one to use when.

• Developing good mental models is not the same as refining your personal worldview or philosophy. It’s about learning to use your own brain as your primary instrument, and use worldviews as secondary instruments. To develop better models, expose yourself to a range of ideas, constantly seek to connect different ideas, and cultivate metacognition.

• Science is a form of imagination that uses language, imagery, metaphor, symbolism, and analogy to engage with reality. We can understand more by connecting the unknown to the known—but without getting confused about what is “finger” and what is “moon”!

• The protégé effect is simply when teaching (or even pretending to teach or preparing to teach) helps us understand our material in a deeper and more insightful way. Use simplified, ordinary language, get your ego out the way, and teach someone else/yourself to get to the heart of a concept.

• The IRADE method is an approach used in physics education, and it stands for introduce, relate, apply, demonstrate, and examine. It can help you not only teach and learn, but communicate your ideas more clearly.

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