In high school I tested stream water. In college I dug for fossils in a coal bed. My teachers felt that a practical application of what we had learned in class would be beneficial and help us to expand our knowledge and understanding. I tried the same thing by taking my Sunday school class of junior high girls into the empty baptistry for the lesson about baptism. God commands us to do the same thing with our faith.
Action is like a field trip.
It's taking your faith out of your head and into your dorm or classroom or laboratory. First of all, you have to understand that God commands you to do this very thing. In the passage you just read, James says three times that faith without works is dead. Second, you have to act on that knowledge. There are plenty of ways to take your faith on a field trip.