Importance of Hands-on Learning

Years after years of schooling, metric to grad to post-grad, to, sometimes PhD. But what’s the purpose? Do all of us think of joining research fields in our respective domains? No. Not even close. All we want to do is get a degree from the time we can actually handle study (or afford it, in some cases), get a job, and get on with life! The problem is, in majority instances, that we scoot through these classes filling papers at the end of each term with the knowledge that is often crammed, seldom understood and basically never applied! Now the problem is, that these jobs we apply for after grad or post-grad, they need us to apply what we were supposed to learn during our schooling years, face it; they aren’t publishing books, are they? This is where all the study, the ‘hard work’ over the years goes NULL. We learnt things, read about that electromagnet which just needs to rotate fast enough to produce usable electricity, but neither did we actually see an electromagnet nor do we know anything about the required cable network!

This is a big menace that has forced industries to first train their employees on even the most basic of stuff and then actually use the skills they provide. No, wait… what did we go to school for?!

According to a popular statistics site, Statista, the unemployed graduate population leads the unemployment chart with almost 16.3% share, soon followed by post grad at 14%. This follows the simple logical explanation that, if the company is to provide the skills as well as the job, they’d prefer the uneducated section of the population who’d have far less expectations and be easier to manipulate. Also, this population is young, and these young minds are far more flexible and fresh having foregone the tumultuous years of schooling.

So, we’ve seen the need for the inclusion of hands-on training in the present day schooling system; following are some of the benefits of the same:

• Retention of a better part of the curriculum- in a study, conducted in normal college environment, it was noticed that 20% of kids retained the material delivered to them in traditional lecture-style environment, overwhelmed by the 75% retention rate when the students were given time to practice what they had just learnt.
• Quick and long-term engagement- the students, quite obviously, find the simulation more engaging as opposed to traditional methods.
• Development of critical thinking skills- critical thinking is improved or rather developed when students partake in such hands-on learning models. Instead of having a well defined rigid learning route, they have to critically think at each step to receive the outcome they are striving to achieve. It is a very important skill of the brain that goes a long way in making industry ready grads.
• Instructor presence at all times- these children have an industry trained person to help at all times. They can benefit from the real-world experiences of the instructor.
• Use of materials and tools used in actual job- a great benefit of hands-on is the use of the same kind of materials as in the actual workplace; this gives a great head start to students. Also it is important for accident prevention that the students know their way about these tools.