Student-Centered Strategy Jigsaw Strategy

What is Jigsaw? Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a “home” group to specialize in one aspect of a learning unit. Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect, “expert group”, and after mastering the material, return to the “home” group and teach the material to their group members.

What is a Jigsaw Strategy? My interpretation: The jigsaw strategy is just as it sounds. Each person in a group is considered a piece of the puzzle. Each person is assigned a special topic to research. Once the research is done and information is gained, the knowledge is shared by each person in order to make the puzzle fit together and become one. It also helps each person learn to be responsible.

Advantages Teaches responsibility – the project will fail if all of the “puzzle pieces” are not put together. Helps students to work together in groups. Encourages listening. Encourages cooperation. Facilitates interaction among all students in the class, leading them to value each other as contributors to their common task.

Disadvantages Uneven time in expert groups Students must be trained in this method of learning. Requires an equal number of groups. Classroom management can become a problem.

Reason for Choosing This Strategy I chose this strategy because I feel like it is an interesting strategy for the students. I took a course on Housing and our teacher showed us this strategy and had us do a project. It was actually quite interesting because you can learn information from different sources and you can see how others view the information by the way they present it. I just think it is a more interesting approach as opposed to everyone learning the same thing.

Using this Strategy in My Future Classroom Since FCS offers many different courses I am sure there are numerous ways to use this strategy. I could use it to have my students learn where different foods came from, learn different styles of raising children, learn different strategies of teaching and learning in a school environment, etc. Anything I teach that has to do with more than one idea can be taught using this strategy.

Jigsaw Strategy in Action Image obtained from:

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