Jigsaw Learning - Using innovative
teaching techniques to promote group
learning, cooperation, listening
engagement and empathy.
Daryl May
Senior Lecturer
Events Management Subject Group
Sheffield Hallam University
Introduction
Session aims:
History
of the Jigsaw Classroom
Concept of the Jigsaw Classroom
Group work issues
Example of using the Jigsaw Classroom
Evaluation of student experience
Future work - challenges?
Discussion
History of the Jigsaw Classroom
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Originally developed by Aronson et. al.
(1978)
Aim was to foster peer cooperation and
tutoring
Developed to help address issues created by
desegregation of the schools in the US
between 1964 - 1974
History of the Jigsaw Classroom
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Designed to improve intergroup relations
Unsurprisingly most studies have focused on
race relations in the Jigsaw Classroom
Other benefits found:
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increase in self-esteem
increase in students liking their school
reductions in competitiveness
increase in "perspective-taking" skills
(Aronson and Patnoe, 1997)
Concept of the Jigsaw Classroom
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The jigsaw classroom is a cooperative and active learning technique
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Efficient way to learn the material
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Encourages listening, engagement, and empathy
Group members must work together as a team to accomplish a
common goal
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No person can succeed completely unless everyone works well
together as a team
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LTA strategy
LTA strategy key principles:
"promote a supportive and inclusive learning experience"
"enhance students' experiences and improve satisfaction
ratings.
LTA aim 3:
"using student-centred and active approaches to learning,
teaching, and academic support; and providing opportunities
for students to be researchers, enquirers, and co-producers
of and partners in learning"
Group work
"Group work is becoming an integral part of
many higher education programmes, designed
to help you gain the skills needed to be
effective in the work place" (Learn Higher
Groupwork website, 2012).
Group work
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Allows students to negotiate meaning and
manipulate ideas with others and reflect upon their
learning (Fraser & Deane,1997).
Can be a positive experience through collaboration
(Johnson and Johnson, 1991; Baloche, 1994).
Tensions through competition for grades and group
dynamics (Imel, 1991; Johnson & Johnson, 1994).
Efficient way to teach as workloads increase and
available time diminishes (Burdett, 2003).
Group work
Positive aspects:
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generating ideas and sharing views
meeting people and building friendships
improved learning processes
sharing of workload
improved grades
Negative aspects:
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unequal distribution of effort
difficulties of accommodating different work schedules for
meeting times
lack of staff support
(Burdett, 2003)
Stage One
For example class of 25 students.
Topic is "social science research methods."
Decide how many components the topic can be
broken down into.
Stage One
Social science research methods
1. Interviews
2. Focus groups
3. Questionnaires
4. Non-participant observation
5. Ethnography
Stage One
Stage Two
Students researching (reading) same topic come
together and discuss work they have completed
individually:
Take That - Interviews
Spice Girls - Focus groups
One Direction - Questionnaires
Rolling Stones - Non-participant observation
Beatles / Mr Blobby - Ethnography
Stage Three
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Original groups now to be divided into five new
groups.
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Done by taking one student from each group to
form another new group.
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Newly formed groups now have five "expert"
students having studied the original components
Stage Three
Stage Four
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Used to consider the effectiveness of the
exercise
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Each student should have learned about the
session topic
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Formative (or summative) assessment
activity
Evaluation of student experience
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Exploratory pilot study
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Short qualitative questionnaire
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43 questionnaires collected over three
classrooms
Evaluation of student experience
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Overall very positive response
Effective way to learn the material
Recognition of "interdependence" from
students
Enjoyable, different and novel
Motivated by the quiz and helped reflection
Surprised by how much then had learnt
Evaluation of student experience
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More time needed (difficult to run in a 1 hour
session)
Trust and confidence in fellow peers
questioned
All material provided at the end, reassured
students
Discussion
If done in completely in the class:
 Explain the exercise in detail at the start of the
class
 Group sizes - usually not straightforward
 How to integrate latecomers
If done in advance:
 Students not attending / complexity of group
allocation
Future work
Further work with a cohort of level 4 students
starting Sept 12.
Randomised into self selecting or allocated
groups.
Measure student satisfaction / experience of
Jigsaw exercise / group work.
References
Aronson, E., Blaney, N., Stephan, C., Sikes, J., and Snapp, M. (1978). The jigsaw
classroom. C.A.: Sage Publications.
Aronson, E. and Patnoe, S. (1997). The Jigsaw Classroom: Building cooperation in
the classroom. New York: Addison-Wesley.
Sharan, S. (1980). Cooperative learning in small groups: Recent methods and
effects on achievement, attitudes and ethnic relations. Review of Educational
Research, 50:2, pp 241 - 271.
http://www.jigsaw.org/.
Thank you
Questions / discussion