Group jigsaw

 The easiest way of achieving co-operation between children is that when they are only able to complete the jigsaw puzzle of the lesson together.

A short definition of group jigsaw

Everyone in a micro-group gets a different task according to their abilities, but these tasks are complementary within the micro-group. Members work on their own task or segment of the lesson.

When they finish, they all teach the others their own segment or important knowledge related to the task, one by one.

A tool for differentiation and inclusion

Jigsaw is a structure within the micro-group in which the content sources (subject materials, textbook, references, learning aids, ways of learning, etc.) are received by the group members in segments. They need to put together the available materials like a jigsaw puzzle. Group jigsaw – after the distribution of segments – always starts with individual processing, when the members work individually on different segments and with different sources, which they convey to the others then.

The division of content materials is possible in as many ways as teachers prepare their lesson plans.

For example, when reviewing a section, we can divide the contents of a whole lesson, or even a whole topic between the members of a group. But we can as well choose to process a topic or an era from different aspects or according to different authors, e.g. in secondary school. It is possible to create a jigsaw of the sequential steps of a process or events. For example when children get three parts of a folk tale and they have to put them in the correct order. In comparison with the traditional – and, it is true, essential – triad of “introduction, main body, conclusion”, they will be able to discover further, more exquisite formal elements of textual cohesion.

With the help of the jigsaw structure education really can be made inclusive: everyone can choose or get a segment, source or way of processing in accordance with their needs or attainment. This way the system adapts to the student in reality, ensuring equal participation and contribution to joint learning and success without extra lessons and private tutors. As mentioned in the previous chapter, jigsaw can be applied on the basis of the “filters” of the ways of acquisition, perception and comprehension. When a child in the micro-group is still only getting acquainted with books, the other one already collects horse breeds from a book about horses. And their third peers lists the features of horses based on her own (complex – tactile, visual, verbal, olfactory, kinaesthetic) experience – since she rides a horse.

The steps of group jigsaw

1. Each group gets as many segments of the material as the number of its members.

2. The segments are distributed by consensual choice or by the teacher’s instruction within the group.

3. Individual reading – each member works individually.

4. Individual note-taking – each member works individually (e.g. in a chart).

5. Individual presentation – in Round Robin, based on individual notes (co-ordinated by the Encourager).

6. Collective interpretation (co-ordinated e.g. by the Taskmaster). Making a collective product – note, placard – base don individual work and joint interpretation (it is expedient to have it co-ordinated by the Recorder).

The manifestation of fundamental co-operative principles in group jigsaw Equal participation and access

Everyone has their own task to which they are provided with personalised aspects, and about which they have to report to the others in a later step of the jigsaw. For presentation, group members can use e.g.

Round Robin or roundtable, thus strengthening enhancing equal access to help from their own group.

Personal responsibility and individual accountability

During individual processing everybody has to complete their own task so that the group can access the whole material and can be successful in acquiring knowledge.

During the presentation the Round Robins of the Encourager and the Taskmaster ensure immediate and individual monitoring and report on individually completed tasks.

Personally inculsive parallel interaction

Jigsaw structure ensures sharing information, so each micro-group works independently and interactively in order to gain access to each other’s segments, thus manifesting the principle of parallel interaction in the large group. Since in the micro-group individual work takes place, here we cannot speak of parallel interaction.

Constructive and encouraging interdependence

Jigsaw is optimal from the point that group members only can obtain the “subject material”²⁴ as a whole if they build on each other. The necessity to see it as a whole inspires collective interpretation and real individual work. Their collective knowledge can be represented e.g. on the placards or posters they make together, that is, group members visually manifest their work built on each other’s performance.

Consciously improved personal, social and cognitive competencies

In jigsaw, higher levels of personal competencies are present: individual responsibility, conscientiousness and even innovation, when someone becomes open to new ideas and approaches.

In jigsaw every student contributes to collective learning with some kind of individual effort and production in accordance with their abilities, needs and development plans.

Social competencies are the ones which are really in the focus here: communication, leadership, conflict management, management of changes and team spirit. When learning together arises from the jigsaw of individual performances, we direct the members of groups learning together towards individual learning. For example, in the history lesson – one person has to study economy, another social structure, the third culture, the fourth international relations – they necessarily read, interpret, take notes and give presentations individually.

Let us see how differentiated instruction can be manifest in the jigsaw structure.

In our fourth-grade micro-group learning about domestic animals, the pupil who is able to read book on his own, can gather information e.g. about horses or other domestic animals which cannot be found in the course book, only in other “animal books”. He will be the Librarian, and his first task is to find “animal books” on his own. His goal is to task as beautiful ones as possible, with much data. Another child collects information from the textbook – by underlining and taking notes – she will be the Recorder. The third group member – who is still only getting acquainted with books – writes down which animals they are going to learn about on the basis of the titles and pictures – he will be our Taskmaster.

Later the Librarian collects the information not found in the textbook on the basis of the Recorder’s work. The Recorder selects the next animal to be made notes of from the Taskmaster’s list.

To check, the Librarian inspects if the Taskmaster has managed to collect all the animals from the course book, and the Recorder interpreting the text checks if there really is any additional information in the “animal books” from the library, and adds them to the collective note about the given animal. The Taskmaster finds and underlines the notes of the Recorder about horses, etc. in his own book.

We can see in this example that group members can practise various forms of learning even at different levels, moreover, they can make use of each other’s work.

The Taskmaster working on the basis of textbook chapter headlines and pictures has made a list of the animals to be “learned”. This will serve as the academic basis of the group.

The Recorder has made a note and presented it to the others. Later it will serve as a sample for further notes to be taken.

The taskmaster – who is only beginning to read for real – reaches for the horse note made by the co-ordination of the Recorder for help so that he can find underline the important parts in his own book. He feels an urge to find some new information that may be added to the Recorder’s note.

He keeps searching for the Recorder’s texts in his own book until he is able to take a similar note of the next animal himself. When he is able to do this, he takes over the role of the Recorder until he has practised taking notes well enough.

24 In our opinion, there exists no such thing as „subject material”. We rather speak about information and cultural values, to the approcach of which textbooks are not necessarily the best means. Sometimes a novel, a logic puzzle, a

Meanwhile, the Recorder checks the Librarian’s information obtained from other books about horses, until she also takes fancy to do individual research in the library, and when she has given her role over to the Taskmaster, she can be the next Librarian.

The Librarian working individually collects books from the library to the list assembled by the Taskmaster, and makes a bibliography. They will have a thematic list, a continuously complemented bibliography, and a collectively complemented and checked note based on textbooks and other sources about each domestic animal to be studied. The Librarian – and the others as well – choose as they wish, but exclusively on the basis of the project products they have made. The Taskmaster only works and checks the schoolbook note on the basis of the Recorder’s notes. The Recorder only checks and assembles the Librarian’s information in the collective note, and/or takes notes individually of the textbook about an animal the taskmaster has written on the list, especially when there are other sources as well in the bibliography list. The Librarian only can choose books about an animal which is listed in the Taskmaster’s list. He immediately has to write down the animal he has chosen, and/or he can choose an animal about which there already is a textbook note, since additional information has to be found and taken notes of.

The Librarian, besides taking notes, also can invent some tasks for his peers to incite them to read, so he will become a Propagator, since his role is being taken over by the Recorder, who is becoming a Librarian. The jigsaw outlined above can make these roles redundant within two or three months, or at most in a year – maybe two – at the age of 10-12. It is very useful if they have the chance to gain experience about domestic animals, maybe even some work experience as well.

After a while students divide thematic reading comprehension tasks on their own: they process the course book text, collect additional sources and process the text from these sources, compare texts from different sources and document them independently. They give mutual help with each other’s learning, learning individually. At this point, a new stage of learning together starts...