This article seems to have divided people somewhat. A think a great reconciliation between the practical and the theoretical when it comes to learning is found in Mindstorms by Seymour Papert:

"An important part of becoming a good learner is learning how to push out the frontier of what we can express with words. From this point of view the question about the bicycle is not whether or not one can "tell" someone "in full" how to ride but rather what can be done to improve our ability to communicate with others (and with ourselves in internal dialogues) just enough to make a difference to learning to ride."