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 ClassroomConcept of the Jigsaw ClassroomGroup work issuesExample of using the Jigsaw ClassroomEvaluation of student experienceFuture work - challenges?Discussion

History of the Jigsaw Classroom

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

Designed to improve intergroup relations Unsurprisingly most studies have focused on

race relations in the Jigsaw Classroom Other benefits found:

– 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

The jigsaw classroom is a cooperative and active learning technique

Efficient way to learn the material

Encourages listening, engagement, and empathy

Group members must work together as a team to accomplish a common goal

No person can succeed completely unless everyone works well together as a team

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

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:– generating ideas and sharing views– meeting people and building friendships– improved learning processes– sharing of workload– improved grades

Negative aspects:– 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 - InterviewsSpice Girls - Focus groupsOne Direction - QuestionnairesRolling Stones - Non-participant observationBeatles / Mr Blobby - Ethnography

Stage Three

Original groups now to be divided into five new groups.

Done by taking one student from each group to form another new group.

Newly formed groups now have five "expert" students having studied the original components

Stage Three

Stage Four

Used to consider the effectiveness of the exercise

Each student should have learned about the session topic

Formative (or summative) assessment activity

Evaluation of student experience

Exploratory pilot study

Short qualitative questionnaire

43 questionnaires collected over three classrooms

Evaluation of student experience

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

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