The clash between Theoretical learning vs. Practical learning has been existing for quite some time now. Parents are often caught up in a tug-of-war between the two when it comes to their children’s education. As the world becomes increasingly aware of developments and what is happening across the globe, so are parents who want the best kind of education for their children. And trust me, they shall not settle for anything lesser than the best of the best.

It is not an easy choice to make when you know the future of children’s education lies in the mode of teaching. Although theoretical and practical learning is two poles apart, it is crucial for parents to decide which path they would like to choose that will benefit their child to the core.

Living in a country like India, we all have been brought up with a theoretical approach to our education system. From the time of our ancestors till now, this mode of learning has been ever-growing. But as we tend to mimic Western culture for everything, it was time that we also mimicked the form of learning they incorporate into their education system.

This is where practical learning comes into the picture. Practical learning is well-known overseas in most countries that follow this kind of education system, but in India, it is fairly new and unknown to many parents. Many schools now are coming up with their own form of autonomous teaching where they incorporate practical learning instead of theoretical learning.

Some schools have incorporated methods of both practical as well as theoretical learning to nurture the minds of children well and give them the best of both worlds. Both modes of teaching have their own importance, but most parents are not very informed about them. Schools are also trying their best to adopt both methods into the system so that they can provide an overall holistic approach for students.

With this dilemma in the heads of most parents, schools are also in a fit of shifting their modes of teaching to the best kind that will attract children’s education and their admissions. But in order to know what is best for our children, we first need to understand what the two types of learning incorporate, their features, and what advantages the two have, respectively.

Everything you need to know about Theoretical Learning:

What is Theoretical Learning?

Theoretical learning is an education system where a student gains knowledge through theories, information, concepts, and facts about a subject. At times, theoretical knowledge can be the primary foundation to move into practical learning. Children and students practice theoretical learning by reading textbooks, pdfs, and articles.

Theoretical learning is always accompanied by memorizing information. It is a whole lot of theory that students find it best to absorb through rote learning. Through this mode of education, one can learn the concept behind a particular piece of work through a lot of reasoning and logic.

You can understand the practical side of a theory only when you actually understand the intricacies of the theory at first by diving into the deep pool of information provided for it. In simple words, theoretical learning helps a student analyze the “WHY” of a certain topic instead of the “HOW” of actually doing it.

What does Theoretical Learning incorporate?

Theoretical learning is basically you learning what others have learned and experienced over their lifespan. It gives you the context of “why” many people did what they did and how so many situations come about. It incorporates ways of doing things in new and innovative ways, but it is all just written theory. You do not actually end up indulging in the process of doing it.

Theoretical knowledge is what exists in textbooks. It can explain why one man was very successful while the other wasn’t. It helps us reason out and analyze things with an open mind by assessing all kinds of perspectives given by different people. You learn through experience but do not create an experience of your own. You just understand and absorb everything that is written.

When you get into a mode of theoretical learning, there is no notion of practical learning involved in it, as they are two sides of a coin. You learn without having a practical approach to what exactly you’re learning. Although it cannot give us any practical experience, it forms the base for it by relating to it and building up our practical environment on it.

Most of the time, you can end up jumping right into the practical experience without indulging in theoretical learning. This can ruin the situation and might end in failure. Theories pave the way to moving in the right direction. Without having that theoretical knowledge, it is difficult to continue experimenting, and you could reach a dead end.

Advantages of Theoretical Learning:

With theoretical learning, you gain knowledge about new things and innovate upon the old ones.
You have so much content inside your head that you can learn to work with any situation by reasoning out and using logical assessments. You might fail at the start, but you then have enough knowledge to know where you went wrong and get back up.
You learn to question everything you read or are being taught instead of jumping right into it.
You retain more information in theoretical learning as you deal with a lot of content and information that might be useful in your practical experience.
You can be in complete control of your education process with theoretical learning. There are no boundaries in your learning process. You can learn as much as you want or as little as you want.
You can easily get all your facts cleared and pay attention to learning instead of applying it to a real-life scenario.
You have a pool of sufficient information to kickstart a career in a field of your choice.

Everything you need to know about Practical Learning:

What is Practical Learning?

Practical learning, as the name clearly suggests, is learning through practical, real-life experience. It is learning by doing, which helps you gain more knowledge and insight into things. It is a type of learning that prepares you for the real world so that you know exactly what to do in a particular situation.

Everything learned in a practical teaching environment incorporates lifelong retention of knowledge. Everything is done in a completely fun, innovative, out-of-the-box, and interesting manner. It is here that you put your theoretical knowledge to the test and use it to experiment with what you have learned.

When it comes to theoretical knowledge, it is more of understanding the background of a piece of information and what it talks about. Practical learning is when that information is put into a working example. When you actually act upon a particular task, it leads to a more in-depth analysis of the concept you learned in your theoretical environment.

What does Practical Learning incorporate?

What you learn in a practical education is applying everything you learned in a theoretical environment. It talks about the “how” of situations instead of the “why”. It delves deeper than what is written in your textbook and can help you understand a theory with practical, hands-on experience.

The best part about practical education is that you learn without textbooks or scholarly references. You don’t have to mug up any information or memorize anything for an exam. Everything is in the form of a practical experience where you do things on your own. You gain more and more knowledge as you keep building upon your practical experiences.

It is more of a skill-based environment where your knowledge of a particular subject or skill is put to the test. How you perform in a practical learning environment will decide your efficiency. It teaches us how to perform in a career stream we choose way in advance. No teacher can teach you practical knowledge because it is gained through your own experiences and learnings.

It focuses more on day-to-day activities, which makes you more confident in what you do. A lot of things in today’s age can be learned only through practical experience. We need a practical learning environment to brush up on what we learn and work on getting better at it. It confirms what theoretical learning teaches us, but at the same time, you will realize how different the two types of learning are when you actually indulge in both of them separately.

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Advantages of Practical Learning:

Practical education involves experimental and hands-on learning.
It encourages students to be independent and work on their own by experimenting and learning from past mistakes.
You get more familiar with tools or equipment that you may be required to use in the future when you are on the job.
As you keep experimenting in your practical learning experience, you get more efficient and confident over time due to repetitive work.
It is a change from theoretical learning, which is considered monotonous and can be boring at times. Practical learning provides a fun, innovative, and interesting environment to grow and learn.
Without practical learning, it is impossible to apply what you study in a theoretical education system.
You are prepared for real-life scenarios and know how to work around a particular situation or challenge if you have practical experience in it. With mere theoretical knowledge, you cannot do the same.
The knowledge learned in a practical situation is more likely to stay with you forever as you can retain everything you did through exposure.
When a student does something using their own mind and hands, they are bound to remember better than when someone is teaching something to them or they read a piece of information.
In a theoretical learning environment, you have a teacher talking while students have to listen and absorb. A practical education involves the complete involvement of students, asking questions, analyzing, experimenting, and active participation, which can ultimately lead to perfection at a task.
A common, well-known saying states that “practice makes a man perfect.” If that is true, then practical learning on a repeated basis can make you perfect in everything you strive for.

Importance of Theoretical and Practical Learning: Can they both go hand-in-hand?

Theoretical knowledge forms the knowledge itself and entails all the information about a topic, whereas practical knowledge is what you get when the same theoretical knowledge is applied to real-life scenarios. Theoretical and practical learning have their own set of importance respectively but can also go hand-in-hand.

If we pair practical learning with theoretical learning, it gives people a clear understanding explanation of the why and how, which are both needed for education. The theory will teach you how a great personality experiences something mind-blowing, and practice will help you be in the shoes of that great personality to experience it yourself.

We can call theoretical learning intangible as it is merely in your head, whilst practical learning is tangible because it is in your hands; you can feel and experience it. With this world getting into an online mode and children getting advanced in technology, they have access to everything on the internet. Websites provide theoretical and practical experiences to children as well.

Thus, both learning experiences are equally important and go hand in hand. Although poles apart, they are two sides of the same coin. Without the other, it is important to get a holistic approach to education. Both skills are needed to go far in any field. Whatever information you get through theoretical learning needs to be correctly utilized in a practical scenario.

A perfect learning experience encompasses both the types of learning and their plus points. Without practical experience, theories are of no use, and without theoretical learning, you cannot jump right into a practical scenario and expect to flourish with it. The theory will give you the extra confidence boost that you need for a practical situation. When they’re hand-in-hand, you can achieve maximum proficiency.

Which mode of learning are schools adopting?

If we take into consideration the scenario of the Indian education system, we all know how it is majorly inclined towards a theoretical learning approach. It has been this way for a really long time and is firmly established in our school systems. Of course, there is a lot of value and importance in a theoretical learning setup. But is it enough?

Pairing theoretical learning by emphasizing more on practical learning through exposure and real-time experiences can really help a child understand a situation better and feel what it is like. Theoretical education alone cannot help anyone succeed. It can add productivity if schools choose to adopt a practical system as well. Sending your child to a school that has a combined learning experience will be best for your child.

You might think just having theoretical knowledge would be fine, but you are mistaken. Imagine an example of running being taught to you within the four walls of a classroom. Isn’t it smarter and better to be taught what running is in a field where you can actually experience it? A theory should be complemented by experience. Otherwise, it will have no value to the child.

If the theory is a base, then a practical experience is a touch of life. Most businesses and companies look for people who have experience with both types of learning. The information as well as the tools. Balancing the two out for your child would provide them with the best kind of learning that ever existed.

So which mode of education do you think will be best for your child?

We provided you with the features of both the types of education systems and how they actually work. It definitely gives an optimum result when there is a fusion of practical learning as well as theoretical learning. Theoretical education will teach you the experience of someone else, while practical education will give you the opportunity to experience it on your own.

Both are necessary for the overall development of your child and can make them the best at everything they do. At this point, it is not about just a child. In every stage of life as a child, parent, businessman, employee, or even as a retired person, everything we do needs to incorporate practical and theoretical learning for higher chances of success. We leave you with this thought, so you can decide what type of education your child would ace at!

We at Skoolz help all parents to make the right decision!

With our intensive list of schools available to make the best choice, parents have a birds-eye view of all the details they need to know to enroll their child. May it be theoretical or practical learning, we have a well-classified way of dividing our schools according to amenities, teaching styles, fee details, and everything under the sun that you would want to know as a parent. Skoolz is on a mission to revolutionize the field of the admission process. Our portal is reliable because it is trustworthy, futuristic, helpful, efficient, and secure. With an all-in-one approach, we can shape your child’s future in the right way.

Contact us or register now to learn more! Hurry up, wasted time is worse than wasted money, and we assure you not to waste any of that!