The text explores a dynamic, practice-based educational model that integrates cognitive understanding with embodied, hands-on experience to prepare the next generation of heritage practitioners. As heritage conservation increasingly demands not only interdisciplinary knowledge but also a nuanced understanding of materials, techniques, and communities, the need to move beyond classroom-based instruction becomes urgent – especially for students and emerging professionals seeking meaningful engagement with living heritage.

This presentation advocates for a learning approach in which direct knowledge of traditional constructive techniques – including the use of lime mortars, gypsum, raw earth, timber, straw, and natural fibers – is central to the educational process. These materials are not merely building elements but cultural expressions, rooted in specific environmental, historical, and social contexts. Engaging with them physically allows learners to comprehend their properties, behaviors, and applications in ways that no textbook can convey. More importantly, it instills respect for the deep craftsmanship and ecological intelligence embedded in vernacular construction traditions.

Field-based workshops, hands-on laboratories, and site-specific conservation projects offer students and emerging professionals immersive experiences in traditional building methods. These activities are carried out in partnership with skilled craftspeople and rural communities – collaborations that are elementary to preserving both tangible and intangible heritage. Through the tactile act of mixing lime, plastering with earth, assembling timber joints, or weaving plant fibers, learners develop not only technical skills but also sensory and emotional literacy: a feel for the materiality of heritage that fosters patience, humility, and care.

This Hands-On / Minds-On approach bridges the often-fragmented gap between theory and practice, encouraging critical reflection on the cultural, environmental, and ethical dimensions of heritage work. It cultivates essential competencies such as material diagnostics, risk assessment, and sustainable intervention planning, while grounding students in the realities of craft-based knowledge systems that are often marginalized in mainstream education. Furthermore, it reinforces interdisciplinary collaboration, civic responsibility, and cultural empathy – qualities increasingly vital in heritage professionals tasked with stewarding diverse and vulnerable heritage contexts.

Drawing on case studies from conservation field schools, intergenerational training programs, and international educational initiatives, the presentation showcases how embodied learning can transform heritage education into a powerful platform for ecological awareness, cultural continuity, and community empowerment.

In conclusion, Hands-On / Minds-On positions traditional construction knowledge not as obsolete or nostalgic, but as a strategic, forward-looking resource for sustainable heritage practices. By placing material engagement and craft intelligence at the heart of education, this model equips students and emerging professionals to become not just conservation technicians, but thoughtful stewards and innovative custodians of the world’s built and living heritage.

Keywords: Training programs, Z Generation, Learning by Doing.