Jigsaw
Hands assembling a puzzle together (fotostorm via Getty Images)
Hands assembling a puzzle together (fotostorm via Getty Images)
How does this align with my curriculum?
This learning strategy helps students to divide larger amounts of information into smaller, more manageable chunks and engages students in collaborative learning.
Why use it?
- To increase collaboration, cooperation and communication among students.
- To support comprehension of new content.
- To improve listening and questioning skills.
- To provide opportunity for students to learn and interact with students they might not otherwise engage with.
Tips for success
- Ensure students are familiar with working in small groups. If necessary, review norms and expectations.
- Ensure students understand their roles in both the expert and home groups.
- Consider modeling the process by reading a segment of text and demonstrating thought processes through a think-aloud.
- Ensure the reading level of the text assigned is appropriate to students’ ability levels.
- Provide expert groups with key questions to consider as they collect information from their reading and group discussion.
- To help students organize their thinking/notes and to provide structure for the activity, provide students with a copy of the Jigsaw Summary Sheet [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF].
- Provide students with ample time to discuss and prepare what they will share with their home groups. Circulate among groups to ensure they are on task and that everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
- Partner ELL or weaker readers with strong readers.
How do I use it?
- Organize students into Home groups of 3-5. For younger students, ensure each home group has a range of reading abilities. To support classroom community development, ensure students get to work with others they might not normally work with.
- Divide the content into approximately equal parts corresponding to the number of students in each home group.
- Provide each member of the home group with a letter, color or other identifier. Students with the same letter, color, etc. join to form Expert groups.
- In their expert group, students read the section of content or text assigned to their expert group. They then discuss what they have read with the other members of the group (i.e., they become experts on that topic/aspect of content). As a group, they identify the key points to share with their home group.
- After the expert groups have read, summarized, and know what they will present, they return to their home group. Each expert will take turns presenting their piece of the content in the order outlined by the teacher. For example, in the case of an article, the experts will present in the order the information occurred in the article.
- Engage students in an activity or discussion that provides opportunity for consolidation and reflection (e.g., home group reporting, whole class discussion on topic, individual reflection on what was learned, addressing student questions).
Variations
- Create groups by having students “count off” to randomly create home groups. The 1’s form one home group, the 2’s form another, and so on. For example, for a class of 25 students, where the goal is to form groups of 4, students would count off to 6. This will create 6 groups of 4 students with group 1 having one extra member.
- Have the expert groups present their learnings to the class.
Extensions
- Engage students in the jigsaw activity to build background knowledge on a topic.
- Use the jigsaw format to review a unit of study to prepare for an assessment.
Using this Strategy
- Jigsaw Summary Sheet reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF]
Create Your Own
- Jigsaw Summary Sheet reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF]
References
Scott Filkins, (n.d.). Using the jigsaw cooperative learning technique. Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-jigsaw-cooperative-learning
The Bell Foundation, (2023). What are jigsaw groups? Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-programme/guidance/effective-teaching-of-eal-learners/great-ideas/jigsaw-activities/
AdLit, (2023). Jigsaw. Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/strategies/jigsaw
Reading Rockets (n.d.). Jigsaw. Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/jigsaw
Facing History (2008). Jigsaw: Developing community and disseminating knowledge. Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/jigsaw-developing-community-and-disseminating-knowledge
Advancement Courses (2015). Jigsaw strategies for engaging diverse learners. Accessed June 6, 2023 at https://blog.advancementcourses.com/articles/jigsaw-strategies/