Jigsaw

Directions

1. Divide Learners into Groups
   • Divide learners into equally numbered groups (between 4 and 6 learners). It is important that they are all the same size, however, accommodations can be made in later steps if it is not possible.
   • These groups are called the jigsaw or learning groups. Each member will be tasked with learning separate material or concepts from the rest of their learning group that they will then be responsible for teaching to the other members of the group.
   • Essentially, each member of the learning group will learn a piece of a puzzle. Then the entire team will cooperatively build on each other to learn the entire puzzle.
2. Divide the Content or Concepts into Chunks
   • Divide the content or concepts into the same number of chunks as the number of learners in a group. Each chunk should represent a piece of the puzzle.
   • Each piece of content can also be in a different form such as an article, a handout, a book chapter, a short video, a problem, an online resource, etc. or even a short experience such as a lab experiment, demonstration, or role-play.
   • If there are uneven groups (i.e. a group of 7) or a weaker member, then two individuals may partner throughout the process.
3. Independent Study
   • Determine how learners will engage with the content or experience individually. It can be as simple as summarizing what they understood and identifying the main points of a text. It can even be more involved like creating a diagram or solving a problem. It can also be helpful to provide templates or structures for study such as Cornell Notes.
   • Give learners time dedicated to processing the information or reflecting on the content or experience individually.
   • It is strongly encouraged that they write down their thoughts, so they can refer to them in later conversations.
4. Expert Groups
   • After studying individually, now have them meet in a different team called an expert group with members from other groups who had the same piece of content as them.
   • Give expert groups sufficient time to process the new information and make sense of the ideas under study. You can also provide guiding questions or a process to share their summaries, insights, disagreements, etc. to help them decide what is most important and ensure all understand well enough to teach it.
   • The final purpose is to then prepare a way to teach—not just present—what they have learned to their jigsaw groups. This includes preparing a way to check for understanding.
5. Jigsaw Groups
   • At this point, learners return to their original jigsaw groups, where they will take turns teaching the other members of their team about their piece of the puzzle.
   • Each expert is responsible for teaching their piece, checking for understanding, and assisting teammates in learning the concepts.
   • Encourage learners to ask questions, take notes, reflect, build on the ideas of others, etc.
   • The key is to synthesize all the information and fit all the puzzle pieces together, so it is often helpful to end with a final discussion among group members to generalize.
6. Assess Learning
   • Finish by asking learners to debrief the jigsaw process and their own learning in relation to the objectives. This can be done as a full class discussion, within the expert groups, on an exit card, individual conferences with the instructor, etc.
   • Learners can be assessed individually for their learning, but to increase responsibility for collaboration, student assessments can be averaged to create a group score. This encourages learners to work harder at helping each other learn the material well.

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Virtual Directions

In a virtual space? No worries. Use a conferencing tool and utilize breakout rooms to facilitate a synchronous conversation and consider the following suggested steps.

1. Divide students into Jigsaw Groups of about 5 people.
2. Divide your content into individual chunks or topics based on group size.
3. All students read all the material, and then summarize one chunk of content for their group discussion, adding their summary to the Elearning (LMS) discussion board for their group.
4. Students then comment on the summaries and the "expert student" revises their summary based on group discussion.
5. Assess the group on all content pieces by having students submit their finalized summaries to the dropbox in a single "final thread" in their group discussion.
6. Address misconceptions in next session/module.

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