The power of teaching others to solidify learning

Remember that time you spent hours studying for an exam, felt completely prepared, then sat down with a friend who asked "Can you explain this concept to me?"—and suddenly realized you couldn't? Your mind went blank, the connections fell apart, and that confident understanding you thought you had evaporated like morning fog.

I'll never forget when this happened to me in college. My roommate Ben knocked on my door the night before our chemistry final. "You seem to get this orbital theory stuff—can you walk me through it?" I'd just spent three hours reviewing my notes and felt rock-solid. But as I started explaining, my words tangled, my logic faltered, and Ben's confused expression mirrored my own growing panic. I thought I knew it cold, but the act of teaching revealed the gaps in my understanding I'd glossed over in solo studying.

That uncomfortable moment taught me one of education's best-kept secrets: teaching isn't just an act of generosity—it's one of the most powerful learning strategies available to us.

Why Does Explaining to Others Transform Learning?

There's something magical that happens when we shift from passively receiving information to actively explaining it. Researchers call this the "protégé effect"—the phenomenon where teaching information to others actually helps the teacher understand and remember it better. But why does this work so well?

When you study alone, it's easy to trick yourself into thinking you understand something. Your eyes recognize the material, the concepts feel familiar, and you might even be able to follow along with examples. But true understanding requires being able to reconstruct the knowledge from scratch, to connect the dots in new ways, and to anticipate where someone else might get stuck.

Think about the last time you gave someone directions. You didn't just recite street names—you visualized the route, identified landmarks, anticipated confusing intersections, and considered what they already knew about the area. That mental process is exactly what happens when we teach academic material. We're forced to organize information logically, identify the core principles, and create multiple pathways to understanding.

"While we teach, we learn," said the Roman philosopher Seneca. This ancient wisdom holds truer than ever in modern education.

The Science Behind Learning Through Teaching

The benefits aren't just anecdotal—they're backed by compelling research. Studies show that students who expect to teach material perform significantly better on comprehension tests than those who study only for themselves. The difference lies in how our brains engage with the information.

When you know you'll need to explain something to someone else, your brain automatically shifts gears. You start looking for patterns and connections rather than just memorizing facts. You organize information into logical sequences. You create mental hooks and analogies that make abstract concepts concrete. This deeper processing creates stronger neural pathways, making the information more accessible later.

Memory researchers have found that the act of retrieving information to explain it to others strengthens our memory far more than repeated exposure to the material. It's the difference between recognizing a face in a crowd and being able to describe that face to a police sketch artist—the latter requires a much deeper, more detailed mental representation.

Real Students, Real Transformations

I saw this power firsthand when I started a peer tutoring program at my university. Take Maria, a psychology major who struggled with statistics. She could solve problems following textbook examples, but the underlying concepts eluded her until she began tutoring first-year students. "The first time a student asked me why we use standard deviation instead of just averaging differences, I had to really think about it," she told me. "In explaining it, I finally understood it myself."

Then there's David, a high school history teacher who revolutionized his classroom by making students the teachers. He creates "expert groups" where students master one aspect of a historical period, then teach it to their classmates. "The quality of their understanding skyrocketed," David shared. "They don't just memorize dates—they understand causes and consequences because they have to explain them."

These stories highlight a crucial point: the person doing the explaining is often learning more than the person listening. The teacher becomes the deepest learner in the room.

Making Teaching Part of Your Learning Strategy

You don't need a classroom or formal tutoring position to harness this power. Here are natural ways to build teaching into your study routine:

• Form small study groups where each member prepares to teach one concept to the others
• After learning something new, explain it to a friend or family member—even if they know nothing about the subject
• Use digital tools like QuizSmart to create practice quizzes for your peers, which forces you to think like an assessor
• Record short video explanations as if you're teaching a class
• Write about what you're learning in a journal or blog, imagining your reader is completely new to the topic

The key is creating authentic teaching moments where you genuinely try to help someone else understand. I've found that using platforms like QuizSmart to create and share practice questions with study partners creates that teaching dynamic naturally. When you craft questions that target common misunderstandings, you're not just testing knowledge—you're anticipating learning challenges and preparing explanations.

Beyond the Classroom: Lifelong Learning Through Teaching

This approach doesn't end with formal education. In my professional life, I've noticed that the colleagues who volunteer to train others or document processes often develop the deepest expertise. The simple act of preparing to explain a software feature or a company procedure forces a level of mastery that passive use never achieves.

One software developer I know started recording five-minute "explainer videos" for his team whenever he mastered a new coding technique. "I initially did it to help my teammates," he said, "but I quickly realized I was the main beneficiary. Preparing those videos cemented my understanding in ways that just using the techniques never could."

Your Turn to Teach

So here's my challenge to you: The next time you're studying something important—whether you're a student preparing for exams or an educator learning new material—build teaching into your process. Find one person you can explain it to, create one resource that could help others understand, or even just talk through the concepts aloud as if you have an audience.

You'll likely discover those frustrating knowledge gaps—the places where your understanding feels shaky. And that's exactly the point. Those moments of uncertainty are where deep learning begins. They're the invitations to dig deeper, make new connections, and transform fragile familiarity into unshakable understanding.

The beautiful truth is that in helping others learn, we often teach ourselves most of all. So who will you teach today?