{
 "schema": "aiblocks-page/1",
 "id": "technical-topic-explainer",
 "type": "skill",
 "name": "Technical topic explainer",
 "summary": "Explain a hard concept with an everyday analogy from a field you know. You get the analogy, where it breaks, and a check question.",
 "headline": "Technical topic explainer",
 "subhead": "Tell your AI the concept that feels too abstract and a field you know well. It picks one analogy, shows where it fails, and asks you to explain it back. Then it adds the correct terms one at a time.",
 "job": {
  "id": "study-and-practice",
  "name": "Study and check your understanding"
 },
 "level": "beginner",
 "thinking": "medium",
 "tested": true,
 "updated": "2026-10-28",
 "first_published": "2026-10-25",
 "inputs": [
  {
   "type": "question",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Question",
   "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like"
  }
 ],
 "outputs": [
  {
   "type": "document",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Document",
   "what": "a finished document, such as a Word file, a PDF or a page of notes"
  },
  {
   "type": "plan",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Plan",
   "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step"
  }
 ],
 "you_give": [
  "The concept you want explained.",
  "The part that confuses you.",
  "A field you know well, for the analogy.",
  "Where your understanding broke down (optional)."
 ],
 "you_get": [
  "One analogy from your own field, with its limits stated.",
  "A plain explanation at your current level.",
  "A check question that asks you to explain it back.",
  "The correct technical terms, added one at a time.",
  "A next step so you do not stay at the simple level."
 ],
 "use_when": [
  "A concept in a course or work document makes no sense to you.",
  "An earlier explanation used too much jargon and you got lost.",
  "You are switching fields and want to link a new idea to what you know.",
  "You can repeat a definition but cannot say what it means."
 ],
 "skip_when": [
  "You already understand the basics and want more depth: ask your AI for a deep dive on the topic instead.",
  "Your confusion comes from a belief that is wrong: ask your AI to find and fix that belief first.",
  "You need a quick definition of one term: look it up or ask your AI in one line."
 ],
 "output_sample": {
  "input": [
   "The concept that feels too abstract",
   "The part of it that confuses you",
   "A field you know well (for the analogy)",
   "Where your understanding broke down (optional)"
  ],
  "output": [
   {
    "name": "Context",
    "contains": "The concept, how lost you are, your background and the starting level of explanation."
   },
   {
    "name": "Analogy",
    "contains": "One analogy from your field, with a clear note on where it stops working."
   },
   {
    "name": "Simplified explanation",
    "contains": "The idea in small steps, one core idea each, using the analogy."
   },
   {
    "name": "Intuition check",
    "contains": "A prompt asking you to say the idea back in your own words."
   },
   {
    "name": "Complexity re-injection steps",
    "contains": "Correct technical terms added one at a time, replacing the analogy words."
   },
   {
    "name": "Handoff plan",
    "contains": "What to study next once you can use the correct terms."
   }
  ]
 },
 "how_to_use": [
  "Open Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. No code, files or paid tools are needed.",
  "Paste the skill text, then name the concept and the part that confuses you.",
  "Tell your AI which field you know well, so it picks an analogy from it.",
  "Read the analogy and its limits. Then answer the check question in your own words.",
  "If your answer is off, let it try a different analogy.",
  "Keep going until you can use the correct terms, then ask for the next step."
 ],
 "checks": [],
 "next": [
  {
   "name": "Study notebook reviewer",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/study-notebook-review",
   "why": "Study notebook reviewer"
  },
  {
   "name": "Study revision coach",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/study-revision-coach",
   "why": "Study revision coach"
  }
 ],
 "source": {
  "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
  "repo": "yugash007/edu-agent-skills",
  "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/teaching/simplify-topic",
  "licence": "MIT",
  "original_name": "simplify-topic",
  "commit": "e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee"
 },
 "credits": [
  {
   "title": "simplify-topic skill",
   "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
   "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/teaching/simplify-topic",
   "used": "Copied under the MIT licence. We gave it a plain name. We added Before you start and After this sections that link to other AI Blocks steps."
  }
 ],
 "files": [
  "examples.md",
  "LICENSE",
  "README.md"
 ],
 "links": {
  "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-explainer",
  "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-explainer.md",
  "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-explainer.json",
  "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-explainer/SKILL.md",
  "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-explainer.zip",
  "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/technical-topic-explainer",
  "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/skill/technical-topic-explainer",
  "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp"
 }
}