Teaching Tips
Jigsaw Using a Graphic Organizer
Graphic organizers — visual depictions that suggest relationships — can help structure homework assignments. A “cooperative jigsaw” using a graphic organizer for the homework can promote deep learning. The example that follows is from a literature class, but teachers can adapt different graphic organizers to focus the homework for virtually any discipline. The in-class active learning and student interactions are based on the cooperative learning approach called “jigsaw” (Aronson et al., 1978).
Students form heterogeneous teams of four where each student focuses on a character in a work of literature (well-known examples might be the characters in Charlotte’s Web, Antigone, Hamlet, or Death of a Salesman). As homework, each student is responsible for close textual reading that determines not only the four major traits for their assigned character (in the Figure 1 example, Willy, Charley, Happy, or Biff), but also the textual evidence, including quotes or episodes that support those conclusions. They use a graphic organizer such as the sample focused on Willy Lowman (see Figure 1 below).
In class, students form expert teams composed of all the students focused on the same character. In large classes, teachers can form multiple expert groups by carefully structuring this break-out activity. They could tape signs to the wall of an auditorium, for example, indicating group placements: Willy, Teams 1-6; Willy, Teams 7-12; and so forth. In the expert groups, the students share their findings and then determine not only the most viable of the four traits, but also the best textual evidence to support those conclusions. Those familiar with the original Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) will recognize that these students are evaluating and synthesizing the material at Bloom’s highest levels of thinking. During the final sequence in class, the students return to their original teams and teach their fellow students in their heterogeneous team the in-depth conclusions of their expert groups.
Jigsaw lends itself to virtually any discipline with complex problems that can be subdivided. Some examples might be: (a) psychology or child development: the underpinnings of childhood moral development; (b) botany: major plant groups; (c) history: segments of the Civil War; (d) anthropology: various branches of the discipline; (e) accounting: four methods of depreciation; (f) chemistry: organic molecules that are polymers of carbon; (g) engineering: designing a solar domestic hot-water system; (h) pharmacy: medication for seasonal allergies or common drugs from different classes used to treat diabetes.
References
Aronson, E., Blaney, N., Stephan, C., Sikes, J., & Snapp, M. (1978). The jigsaw classroom. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Bloom, B.S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives (Cognitive domain). New York, NY: Longman.
From, Millis, B. J, (2010). Promoting deep learning, IDEA Paper No. 47. Kansas State: IDEA Center
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