one of the hardest concepts in cell biology for undergrads is understanding DNA topology. How a right handed twist can become a left handed interwound writhe, then taken up by a toroidal writhe when bound to a histone, and how linking numbers relate is complicated and difficult to picture. Oftentimes, models are used in class, where we describe how two ribbons act like DNA molecules and start twisting them in different ways. However, many students still don't see it; and I was struggling with a new method to teach the central concepts. Admittedly, it had been a number of years since I have learned these concepts myself. As I was playing with two ribbons with velcroed ends, working through the different concepts and types of writhes, I realized two things:- one, that the model fell apart because ribbons, unlike DNA, has a Lk0 of 0 when linear; and two: that just playing with the ribbons for a few minutes and hours, practicing, helped me understand the concepts much better. I gave everyone in my class ribbons the next time round, and we practiced. You could call it data visulatization, or building conscious competence, or building context to something physical; but once they understood how those ribbons did and did not behave like wound DNA, moving on to the more difficult problems surrounding everything from histone binding and modification, DNA unwinding for replication and other concepts that built off DNA toplogy became much easier.