Learning By Doing: 4 Reason Why it's Relevant

Learning by doing means a theory of education expounded by American philosopher John Dewey. It is a hands-on approach to learning, meaning students (including adults) must interact with their environment to adapt and learn.

What is learning by doing?

Learning by doing refers to something more when we actually "perform" the work.

For example, imagine you are a guitarist looking to understand how chords relate to one another. Traditionally, you might play the chords over and over again. However, with the learning by doing approach, you would understand the chords and then hop on stage to play the chords as an improvised piece with other musicians– active engagement, not a passive practice. Active engagement facilitates deep learning and encourages mistakes – i.e., those 'wrong' chords –and how to learn from them as well.

Why is this effective?

Exploratory learning has been around for ages.

Over the period, our way of thinking has adapted and changed. It was thought to be lost for the time being, once computers were introduced into the schools. However, in recent years, teaching schools have been sensitized and have adopted this practice again.

1. It's More Appealing and Significant

The first benefit is that it's more appealing and significant as it requires stepping up on your part and will not dampen your work task. Second, it's substantial as; generally, the learning happens from books, written articles, sessions, webinars, and learners may read—or not read— and therefore, there is less possibility of gaining information.

When you are coerced into a condition where you have to learn, it's simpler to recall particular thoughts or events. Every action we do provides a specific learning experience, and it's how the inspiration is formed. That inspiration binds us to what is known and understood. Its belief that learning is relevant and meaningful.

Beyond that, this experience allows individuals to lead through this cycle that involves a determined attempt, reflection, errors, and refinement, followed by the improvisation of the approach undertaken.

2. It's a lot more Personal.

As mentioned above, learning by doing offers a personal experience. Talking about the different phases of attempt, reflection, errors, and refinement, it's only possible through personal feelings—the motivation and understanding of knowledge of a particular topic binding into your values and ideals.

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Let's take an example; if you've always wanted to make a cake, you could look it up in a recipe book or watch an instructional video. Another method is you could get the ingredients and start doing it all by yourself. Even when you make errors, through your experience and learning curve, you have a better understanding of what needs to be done next time when you make it. In addition, you're more committed to it now since you are making it to have it.

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3. It Is Community-Associated

Learning by doing involves different stakeholders, rather than sitting in isolation, whether in the library, in your room, or stuck in understanding the book concepts. Since the whole community is your learning ground, scientifically, you can grasp matters if you can gather local partners like mentors or guides and subject matter experts. It's also important to connect local issues to more significant global causes.

This means inclining more into the personal spaces that it encourages. You are part of a community. This form of collaborative learning allows you to interact more and connect with it—not necessarily with the people but certainly the environment around you.

4. It Builds Skills & Competencies

The final advantage of learning by doing is that it hones your skills to attain successful outcomes. Learning by doing motivates you to step out of your comfort zone, discover something new, purposeful, and attempt things being done for the first time. Of course, one is bound to make a mistake or two, but this method helps you build yourself up.

The outcome of learning by doing, you can develop your initiative for new things and at the same time focus on building resolve towards development and growth in a particular area. It could also mean developing skills like personal productivity, decision making, and management of teams, mentoring, and guidance for personal finances. These are all critical considerations in personal as for the future growth.

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Learning by doing encourages active involvement with the available medium of information and requires you to work harder to memorize it. However, it's a productive method because it helps you embed knowledge into your memory. After all, when you have an in-depth connection to learning, and you'll be motivated to use it anytime.

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