Learning by Doing

Ken Deevy

Learning by doing is a method of education that suggests that we learn more when we carry out an activity rather than just study it. A good example of learning by doing has to do with skill development. How did you learn to ride a bike? It was not solely by studying it or from hearing of others’ experiences, but rather by picking up your bicycle and failing repeatedly, until one day, you successfully cycled your bike along the street.

It was the American philosopher, John Dewey, who first popularized the concept of learning by doing. Dewey’s approach challenged the traditional form of teaching or lecturing, still favoured in many higher education institutions. In the traditional model the lecturer employs a form of teaching known as the transmissive lecture, a form of passive learning. This is where the student learns by listening to the subject expert, i.e., the lecturer, and taking notes or simply following along with a pre-printed set of lecture notes or a textbook. Many teachers and lecturers tend to focus on imparting knowledge to students. They imagine themselves as putting information into students’ minds. However, the science of learning shows that students need to construct knowledge for themselves.

There are several reasons why the passive lecture style of teaching and lecturing has endured in higher education. One of the reasons is the pre-eminent position of research in many higher education institutions where there is less emphasis on the teaching and learning mission. Another reason is that the traditional lecture is perceived to be efficient in terms of time and the lecturer’s ability to teach a large cohort of students in a lecture theatre. What this teaching model neglects to factor in is the efficiency or inefficiency of the learning process from the student’s perspective. And of course, the large lecture theatre model generally doesn’t apply in continuing professional development (CPD) contexts where the cohort size is often small.

What is the purpose of Learning by doing? Learning by doing is utilised to improve the learning process. But how does it work? When listening, the human brain is said to maintain an optimal level of attention for up to 10 minutes. Beyond that, attention begins to fall, even if the subject is interesting. However, we remember up to 75% of what we do, and even more significantly 90% of information is retained when we teach it to others. But these figures, the result of a study conducted by the National Training Laboratories Institute (NTL) in the early 1960’s, are contested. But even if you don’t agree with the actual numbers produced by the study, most researchers in this area do agree with the importance and benefits of learning by doing as an integral part of the learning process.

So, does the learning by doing method imply that practice matters more than theory in the learning process? Is it possible to practice something abstract, such as Science or Engineering without recourse to for example a period of reading, discussion, and reflection. Perhaps the answer to this question is no. Learning by doing is more than just about practice. It also has to do with other important elements, such as, personal interest in the topic, integration of theory, and reflection, as a part of the learning journey. So, in the professional context perhaps the learning by doing method cannot simply be deployed at any point in the learning process. There may be a logical sequence to the method which will optimise the results and its effectiveness. In the learning to ride your bike example above, the doing can be split into smaller elements. This might initially involve receiving advice and help from adults or others around you, observing other people’s successes, trying it yourself, failing, reflecting on what made you fail and how you could fix that, and trying it again.

So, perhaps the doing piece is not always the first approach one takes to learning a new topic or skill. Learning by doing in fact might not be a powerful standalone method, but rather integrated in such a way as to improve the overall learning process.

Despite reservations in some settings, the learning by doing methodology has been used as a framework for many forms of educational design, including Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

I believe that learning by doing is a much more versatile and powerful pedagogical tool when integrated correctly into the learning process.

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