T

eachers and lecturers should understand how to make their students participate more, according to Rainier A. Ibana of Ateneo de Manila University.

Ibana was speaking at Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta on Aug. 5. He came to Indonesia to attend a conference in Jakarta. However, before presenting his paper in Jakarta, he first visited Sanata Dharma University as a part of partnership between Ateneo de Manila University and Sanata Dharma University.

Ibana gave a short presentation to lecturers of Sanata Dharma, titled Pedagogical and Administrative Implications of the Human Brain in a Knowledge-based Society.

In the opening of his lecture, he explained that the human brain consists of three parts: reptilian, mammalian and neo-cortex. Each part contributes its own characteristics to human decision making.

He gave an exercise to the participants. In that exercise, the participants were asked to form groups consisting of five persons. They were given a thread. The thread should form the shape of star at the end of the exercise as a sign of balance.

They were asked to analyze what happened in their groups during the exercise. The lesson was that teaching is about the collaboration between teachers and students. He mentioned that a teacher should not act as the source of knowledge.

A teacher should not give the answers to all of their students'€™ questions. What they should do is to help students answer the question by telling them where to find the answer, not by giving the direct answer. '€œTeachers are not any more the depository of knowledge,'€ said Mr. Ibana.

Toward the end of his lecture, he highlighted that the human brain works so fast that it knows what a person will do 5.5 seconds before the actual action. Thus, it is very important to have full control of everything we do, especially in making decisions as teachers in the classroom because it will affect our students. As teachers, we should know how powerful the human brain is, and that filling students with wisdom is very important.

Liliana
Yogyakarta