English Language Fellow Jeanie Cook led a workshop for teachers at Yogyakarta State University focused on student-centered learning. Participants were divided into groups and were then given a map of an island that had fictitiously discovered oil. Each group was divided into three committees- building, commerce and transportation- and together, had to decide what to do with the oil money to make their island “the best of all possible worlds.” The activity engaged participants and involved values-clarification, team work, and critical thinking.
Participants left the workshop with a new activity and an eagerness to experiment with new teaching methods that allow students to explore, to critically think, and to work more independently from the constraints of lecture-driven teaching.