Does it sound strange to use "hands-on background" to describe someone who is informally educated but have an in-depth knowledge in a certain field of study. Not necessarily hands-on experience because it is mainly theory based.
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2How can you have a hands-on background without having had any practical experience? If something is mainly theory based, that means that there hasn't been much of anything done in a hands-on fashion. Theory and practice (hands-on) are completely different things.– Jason BassfordCommented Jul 2, 2019 at 5:11
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@JasonBassford You hit the nail on the head! Thanks– Organic HeartCommented Jul 2, 2019 at 5:13
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On second thought, the hands-on doesn't necessarily refer to in actual practice, it can be a thought process too?– Organic HeartCommented Jul 2, 2019 at 5:27
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Hands-on does not normally refer to a thought process. It refers, literally, to using your hands to do something. In some specific cases, it's possible that hands-on could refer to thinking. If the actual job only does involve thinking. For instance, if you're a contestant on Jeopardy! (And discounting your use of the buzzer and writing an answer at the end.)– Jason BassfordCommented Jul 2, 2019 at 7:02
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2 Answers
Lexico (The Oxford Dictionaries) gives the following definition
hands-on
PHRASE1 Involving or offering active participation rather than theory.
The time is equally divided between interactive theory classes and hands-on practical classes.
So it means being involved physically. A thought-based process can't be "hands-on" — that's going back to theory. Another example phrase
As managing director, Rona takes an active, hands-on role in all her company's activities.
means Rona is involved in the actual tasks done by the staff.
answered Jul 2, 2019 at 5:37
Theory and hands on are not in negation. One is the subject matter, and the other is the approach to it. The term hands-on can be used as an adjective to the approach taken. For example, one may say that Such and such book provides a hands-on background to the theory through plenty of examples. Here it does not sound strange. I would not want the phrase "hands-on" to be the sole property of non-theory topics! A theory can also have an hands-on approach, which indicates learning the theory through its practice. That practice can be through paper and pen, computer simulations, or through other means of laboratory or observations of natural phenomena. So, indeed, there is a plenty of hands-on that goes on in theory too.
A few examples of the usage of the term hands-on in theory topics/maths are as follows:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1086006.pdf
http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ronspubs/pro_10_hands_on.pdf
https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/resources/2/Principal/2004/N-Dp28.pdf
https://learn.org/articles/New_Hands-on_Approach_for_Math_Education.html
