‘‘Knowledge is of no value till you put it into practice.’’
Unless and until you put your acquired understanding into practical use, knowledge does not become wisdom. In this age of innovations, it has become important to put your education into action as without this there is no implication of the knowledge which you have gained. It is only when a man knows how to use his theoretical knowledge into use that the purpose of education gets achieved.
Given the complexities of modern education system, students are expected to have equal command in their theoretical knowledge and practical understanding. No matter how easy it may sound, it gets difficult for students to understand the theoretical knowledge as compared to practical knowledge.
It often gets confusing for students to understand which part of the education needs to be emphasized more on – the theoretical concept or the practical way.
However, there are certain subjects like the science subjects where students prefer doing practical than their projects. Not only do they find the practical work to be more interesting and easy, but they find relevance too.
Since many students go through the turbulence of whether to choose their practical work or theory work, I decided to share a post on the same related to chemistry based on my experience so far.
About Chemistry Practical
Along with physics and biology, chemistry forms to be an important science subject taught in schools worldwide. It is a practical subject where various scientific principles, concepts are taught through experiments. Practical work helps to make the theoretical aspect of chemistry more concrete.
Importance of Chemistry Practical work
The significance of chemistry practical work is as follows-
- Studying by experimenting
Once theoretical concepts are implied to practical use it helps to study any difficult concept in a better way.
- Developing a scientific outlook
Practical work helps to fulfill the two main purposes of teaching chemistry- helping students to have scientific outlook and gaining knowledge towards their subject.
- Satisfies what, why, how
One of the greatest benefits of doing practical work is that it satisfies the human curiosity to know what happened, how and why it happened.
- Having scientific attitude
Students pursuing chemistry have to spend most of their time in labs even during professional life. Thus this practical work helps to develop a scientific attitude essential for all.
Relation between theory and practical
‘‘Knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity.’’
Relationship prevailing between theoretical education and practical education is very reciprocal. Just the way there is no value of theory without practical implications; even a practice cannot be fruitful without the theoretical concepts guiding it. The relation between these two concepts is even symbiotic. This is because, if theory goes through advancement; even practical work will have modifications.
Reasons why practical knowledge is more important than theory
- Free from mugging up!
Ok. Not all of us are equally talented and blessed, isn’t it?
Remembering and memorizing every little thing of a chapter is not at all an easy task. No matter how well you have understood a particular concept or topic, memorizing the equations, or whole answers is something which indeed proves to be a nightmare to many.
The best way to deal with such mugging up issues is that you supplement practical works with that of the theoretical one. Looking at a subject practically or having the chance to experiment it, helps in learning any topic well.
- Provides better understanding
Reading about a chemical equation in a book can never get straight into your mind unless you see it or experiment it yourself. You simply cannot believe it just because some great person had observed it hundred years back. It is here that practical knowledge wins over any bookish concepts!
No matter whether it is chemistry or a literature aspect, understanding any phenomena is easier when you get to experiment it through practical use.
- Real-life implications
Well, a major reason why students prefer practical understanding to that of theoretical one is that they can be aware of the real-life application of a particular topic.
Would you be able to understand the chemical reactions if not through detergents, ammonia, and bleach? Would you be able to understand the third law of Newton if you had not noticed the walking style carefully?
Thus, unless and until you apply any theoretical understanding to a practical situation, you can never have an in-depth understanding. Without this, you would have been wondering why it is important to study chemistry!
You can easily have a better understanding of these real-life implications from online professional websites, who have talented chemistry experts to cater to your needs.
- Interactive mode of education
Imagine a class where your teacher comes to teach you, and she simply writes something on the projector and leaves the class. Will you be able to understand what she tried to convey just by reading from the projector? Will you like that she didn’t interact or utter a single word?
In the same way, it is very important to have an interactive mode of education everywhere. Just the way you won’t understand what you are supposed to do with that which is written on the projector, you will never be able to understand the impact of a concept without practical knowledge!
If you are a student facing problems in physics, you can consider reading- how can homework help score highest marks in Physics?
- Practice counts!
Do you remember the old saying- ‘‘Practice makes a man perfect?’’
You will know how teachers’ advice you to read a chapter as many times as you can so that you derive a better understanding. But it is true that you need to have activities involving this concept so that you can learn it well. Only with practice can you expect to have better results both in academics as well as in your professional life.
Sitting in the corner of your study space or classroom may help you to score that perfect ‘A’ grade in your semester exams. But it is only with practical knowledge, can you expect to have a long-term effect.
Different people have different perceptions. While some may believe that practical knowledge is the real form of education, many would consider theoretical education to be the best. Thus, it is up to you to decide which is the better one- practical knowledge or theoretical knowledge.
