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The cooperative learning strategy known as the "jigsaw" technique helps students create their own learning. Teachers arrange students in groups. Each group member is assigned a different piece of information. Group members then join with members of other groups assigned the same piece of information, and research and/or share ideas about the information. Eventually, students return to their original groups to try to "piece together" a clear picture of the topic at hand. That's the simple overview. The resources below will fill in the details and provide examples of the technique in action.

Learn More About Creating "Jigsaw Activities"

The Jigsaw Classroom
Education World gave this Web Site an "A" rating. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the site offers free resources, tips, links, and information about the "jigsaw" cooperative learning technique. A plan for implementation is included.

Cooperative Learning Saves the Day! -- One Teacher's Story
Ted Panitz has discovered the power of cooperative learning. He describes several favorite math activities, including "Factoring Jigsaw," in which each student becomes an expert on a different concept or procedure and then teaches that concept to other students.

More Basic Jigsaw Resources

• The Jigsaw Classroom: Overview of the Technique
• The Jigsaw Classroom: Jigsaw in Ten Easy Steps
• The Jigsaw Classroom: Tips on Implementation
• Doing Cooperative Learning: Jigsaw

More Jigsaw Activities

These additional activities found on the Web will help bring the jigsaw approach to life for you:

• Making Jigsaw Activities Using Newspaper Articles (Grades 4-12)
• Behind Rebel Lines: Women in the Civil War (Grades 5-12)
• The Internet, Schools, and Symbolic Speech: A Jigsaw Activity (Grades 8-12)
• The Emancipation Proclamation: A Jigsaw Activity (Grades 8-12)
• Mississippi River Jigsaw (Grades 8-12)
• Special Segments of Triangles Jigsaw Activity (Grades 9-12)
• "The Shawshank Redemption" Jigsaw Activity (Grades 9-12)

Article by Gary Hopkins
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