Lesson 13

Jigsaw

Objectives

 Discuss Jigsaw as an instructional strategy

 Explain how Jigsaw is used in elementary social studies instruction
 Develop a lesson plan that uses Jigsaw in elementary social studies

Introduction

Teacher Sharon wants to ensure that every member of the group will contribute
in their activity. So instead of giving each group one whole text to discuss, she
divided the text into different parts and distributed them among the members. She
tasked them to comprehend the assigned reading and answer the guide questions.
After 10 minutes, she instructed each student with the same reading to sit together
and compare their answers. They also need to highlight the important points and
plan how to share it with their classmates. After another 10 minutes, students went
back to their original group. They were each given time to discuss their parts and
answer questions from their groupmates. While the group converses, Teacher Sharon
roams around the room and check if the students are on the right track. After the
discussion, an individual quiz was given to assess student learning.

Have you experienced doing a similar activity when you were in elementary? If
yes, is the activity successful in helping you learn the lesson and/or practice your
social skills? If not, what could be one possible reason why your teachers opt not to
do this?

The strategy that Teacher Sharon utilized is called Jigsaw. In this chapter, you
will learn what Jigsaw is and how it is implemented in the classroom.

Think

Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy developed by Elliot Aronson and his

colleagues in 1971. Created as a response to the racial desegregation in the 1970s, it
was first implemented by educators and psychologists in schools in Austin, Texas to
reduce tensions among the white, Hispanic, and African-American students. The
main objective was to encourage students to cooperate and work together and, at the
same time, break down interpersonal barriers. The strategy successfully worked then,
and today, it is still being utilized by teachers as a popular instructional method in
different subject areas.
 As a cooperative learning strategy, Jigsaw was founded on Vygotsky's Social
Constructivism Theory which suggests that children develop knowledge through
social interaction. The strategy was given such a name because the process resembles
a jigsaw puzzle. Different parts of the lesson, compared to puzzle pieces, are
distributed among students, and they have to communicate and work together to
arrive at the complete information. Jigsaw is very much applicable in many social
studies lessons, particularly those with content that can be broken down for different
groups to analyze.

Steps

In The Jigsaw Classroom, Social Psychology Network & Aronson (n.d.)

outlined 10 steps in implementing this strategy:

1. Divide students into five- or six-person home groups. Members should be

diverse in terms of gender, ability, and ethnicity (if applicable).
2. Appoint a leader for each home group.
3. Divide the day's lesson into five to six segments.
4. Assign each student in the home group to learn one segment.
5. Give students enough time to comprehend and master their assigned segment.
6. Form temporary expert groups by instructing students with the same segments
to sit together. Give them enough time to discuss the main points, clarify
questions, and rehearse the presentations they will make to their home group.
7. After the given time, bring students back to their home groups.
8. Ask each member to present his or her segment to the group. The leader should
encourage the flow of discussion and the asking of questions.
9. The teacher should roam around the classroom and observe the process. Make
appropriate interventions for groups experiencing difficulties.
10. At the end of the session, give a quiz to assess student learning.

This is the original Jigsaw strategy that was developed by Aronson and his
colleagues. Later on, different versions of the strategy were advanced by other
educators. Thus Jigsaw II, Jigsaw III, and Jigsaw IV were born, which varied the
mode of grading and inserted some steps such as group review and re-teaching in the
process.

Advantages

The Jigsaw strategy is preferred by many educators because it has many

benefits in the classroom. A study conducted by Hanze and Berger (2007) showed
that, after implementing Jigsaw, students demonstrated increased feelings of
autonomy and intrinsic motivation. It promotes personal accountability of learning
since students are required to master their segments independently and eventually
share it with their groupmates. It also encourages group collaboration, with students
knowing that their information and understanding will not be complete without
working and communicating with their peers. Moreover, Jigsaw instills a sense of
ownership in learning, especially with the teacher acting as a mere facilitator instead
of a direct transmitter of knowledge.

Tips

1. Emphasize that each member has a valuable contribution to the group. This will
minimize the chances of smart students dominating the discussion while less-
able students talk less. You can also rotate the leadership so that all students
will be given the opportunity to lead the discussion.
2. Ensure that the given materials are of equal length and difficulty so that they
can be mastered by all students within the given time limit. If this is not
possible, assign the materials based on students' abilities.
3. In some cases, teachers skip the formation of expert groups, believing that
individually mastering the segment is enough. However, the expert group is
helpful especially in clarifying points which some students might find difficult
to understand. So as much as possible, allow sufficient time for interaction
among expert groups to ensure rich and deep discussions among students.
Experience

Study the sample Daily Lesson Plan below and analyze how the Jigsaw strategy
is utilized in the elementary social studies classroom.
Apendiks: Worksheet ng formative assessment
Saan at kailan Sino o sino-sino ang Ano ang dahilan? Ano ang naging
naganap? nanguna? bunga o resulta?

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