Learning by Doing is not a new instructional theory but is exactly what it sounds like. Aristotle stated, “One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.” Think about that. Doesn’t it make sense? Isn’t it common sense ? Isn’t “learning by doing” how parents teach their children to ride a bike or make a cake? Isn’t it how you learned to drive a car? Isn’t it how an apprentice in times past learned to become a shipbuilder or a printer or a silversmith?
One of the current leading proponents of this instructional theory is Dr. Roger Schank. He wrote, “life requires us to do, more than it requires us to know, in order to function. It makes more sense to teach students how to perform useful tasks. There is only one effective way to teach someone how to do anything, and that is to let them do it” (Schank et al., 1999). Schank stated that the most important goal of this theory is to “foster skill development and the learning of factual information in the context of how it will be used” (Schank et al, 1999).