# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Visible Random Groups: Why This Is The Next Thing You Need To Do For Group Work In Your Classroom - Powerful Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Group work... it has its benefits in the classroom and it has its headaches. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and we know that collaboration is a key competency our students need for the future. We want our students to be able to collectively ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This cooperative learning strategy has been around for decades, but how well do you really know it?
Say "Jigsaw" in some teaching circles and no one will bat an eyelash. It's one of those techniques that has been with us so long, it is no longer seen as new. When considering methods to share in my collection of instructional strategies, I ignored it for a long time because I assumed most people already knew how to use it. Still, I figured it was worth including at some point.

When I finally sat down to review the steps of Jigsaw, I came across a few surprises.

Although Jigsaw is typically presented as just one in a number of cooperative learning strategies, its origin story has little to do with academics. The strategy was developed by social psychologist Elliot Aronson in 1971 in response to the racial turmoil caused by recent school desegregation in Austin, Texas. "Long-standing suspicion, fear, and distrust between groups produced an atmosphere of turmoil and hostility," Aronson recalls on his website, The Jigsaw Classroom. "Fist-fights erupted in corridors and schoolyards across the city. The school superintendent called me in to see if we could do anything to help students get along with one another."

Rather than take a crisis management approach to the situation, which they believed would only put a band-aid on the problem, Aronson and his colleagues wanted a solution that was more organic, something built into the structure of students' everyday learning. What they came up with was Jigsaw, an instructional approach that required students to learn from each other, rather than from the teacher. Because students in a Jigsaw classroom could not succeed without one another, they had to learn to get along. "Learning from each other gradually diminishes the need to try to out-perform each other because one student's learning enhances the performance of the other students instead of inhibiting it, as is usually the case in most competitive, teacher-oriented classrooms."

For a more thorough understanding of the strategy and its history, read the Jigsaw Classroom's Jigsaw Basics white paper.

Although cooperative learning in general has been proven to have a strong positive impact on learning (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001), researchers have found that Jigsaw in particular improves students' social-emotional learning. In studies comparing Jigsaw with traditional direct instruction, students taught with the Jigsaw method demonstrated increased feelings of autonomy, competence, and intrinsic motivation (Hänze & Berger, 2007). Another study comparing Jigsaw with cooperative learning that didn't include interdependence (a hallmark of Jigsaw) found that the Jigsaw students demonstrated improved attitudes toward their peers and reduced indicators of racial prejudice (Walker & Crogan, 1998).

Many teachers are looking for ways to help students become more independent learners who also function well in groups. If done correctly, Jigsaw can fulfill all of those needs without ever losing academic rigor.

As a teacher, I never received any formal training in this strategy, and when I tried it, I found it didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. After studying the steps again, I realized I was organizing my groups the wrong way. Plus, I never bothered to give the quiz at the end.

Anyway, here's a video overview of the steps. If you're new to the strategy, this will show you how to do it. If, like me, you've tried it without success, this may help you fine-tune:

Want these steps written down? Click here to download a free copy (will open in a new window).

I had no clue about this! Since the original Jigsaw strategy was developed, other educators have improved on it with their own variations (Coffey, n.d):

Jigsaw II has all students read all of the material, but then specialize in one area for their expert groups. Then, when quiz time comes, students' individual scores are averaged within each group to arrive at a group score, which is then compared with other groups. This encourages groups to work harder to ensure that all members learn.

Jigsaw III builds in a group review before the final quiz.

Jigsaw IV adds a few extra components to Jigsaw III: The teacher starts by introducing the material, quizzes are given to the expert groups, and a re-teaching period is built in to address material that wasn't taught well in cooperative groups.

I should mention that clear information on these three variations was very challenging to find; with that in mind, I believe there's a need for a well-written set of instructions to help teachers give each variation a try.

So how do you like them apples? Kind of makes you want to get Jiggy with it, no? (Sorry, I couldn't help it. It was sitting right there.) If you have experience with Jigsaw and have insights or tips to add, please comment below. If you have questions about implementation, let's hear those, too.

Jiggy. ♥

References:

Coffey, H. (n.d.). Jigsaw (Educator's guides: North Carolina digital history). Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-eg/4584#noteref5

Hänze, M., & Berger, R. (2007). Cooperative learning, motivational effects, and student characteristics: An experimental study comparing cooperative learning and direct instruction in 12th grade physics classes. Learning and Instruction, 17(1), 29-41. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475206001174

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., & Perini, M. J. (2007). The strategic teacher: Selecting the right research-based strategy for every lesson. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Walker, I. (1998). Academic performance, prejudice, and the jigsaw classroom: New pieces to the puzzle. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 8(6), 381-393. Retrieved from http://uwf.edu/svodanov/AS/Jigsaw.pdf

Stick around.
Join my mailing list and never miss another post. You'll get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and joyful. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my new e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4 Things You Don't Know About the Jigsaw Method

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This cooperative learning strategy has been around for decades, but how well do you really know it?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This strategy for flexible grouping mixes whole class, small group, and individual practice in one lesson and helps build a classroom community.

It's the first week of school, and I'm asking myself, "Should I focus on building my classroom's culture, knowing I'll be behind in my curriculum, or jump into teaching and learning at the expense of community-building?"

Grouping Cycles-our school's approach to flexible grouping-allow students to engage with curricular content while building community in the early weeks of school and beyond. When students collaborate, relationships form. And when that collaboration is connected to curricula, we meet relational and instructional goals in tandem.

Grouping Cycles blend whole class, small group, and individual practice in one lesson by strategically grouping and regrouping students. Flexible grouping is not a new concept: Marguerite Radencich and Lyn McKay noted the effectiveness of students moving fluidly through elementary reading groups in 1995, Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe noted how groups could be used flexibly to differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms in 2006, and as recently as 2022, Kristina Doubet wrote a book on the topic.

Our twist requires beginning and ending a lesson with the same type of grouping, which can have immediate impacts on students' sense of belonging and engagement with classroom content.

Prompt students to actively forge relationships

When teachers use Grouping Cycles, they are deliberately grouping and regrouping students in a short amount of time. In a traditional cycle, the lesson begins with a whole group activity, you provide students with time to practice individually, and then groups of students share their thought processes.

When the teacher ends the lesson by reconvening the whole group, students have a wealth of information to draw upon as they discuss their own practice and that of their small groups.

In a geometry class, the lesson might begin with a whole group demonstration of how to use a compass. Students might then work individually on a performance task related to acute and obtuse angles. Next, the teacher would move students into groups of four to continue their work and discuss the results. When the class reconvened, the teacher might ask a student, "What was one question that you asked your group, and what did your group tell you?"

Here, students are relying on one another to cocreate knowledge rather than focusing all of their attention on the adult in the room or the piece of paper in front of them.

Encourage knowledge revision

We all relish "aha" moments. But how can those moments occur naturally? If a teacher begins a lesson with independent practice, moves to homogeneous small group practice and then whole group instruction, and culminates by returning to independent practice, the chances of students realizing and fixing their mistakes grow exponentially.

In a language arts class, students are tasked with drafting the introductory paragraph to an essay. The teacher, engaging in Grouping Cycles, can move students into groups of three and ask them to score sample paragraphs.

Next, the whole class can convene to discuss the merits, flaws, and scores of each sample. And finally, students can return to their initial paragraphs and revise their work given the small group and whole group learning that occurred.

Enhance differentiated instruction

A Grouping Cycle is a way for teachers to personalize instruction. When a teacher is deliberate, not only about how students are grouped, but also about when they're grouped, it becomes easier to fully mobilize the power of differentiation.

Consider, for example, a health sciences class with vastly diverse student needs and abilities. Using a Grouping Cycle, a teacher might divide students into pairs and ask them to organize a list of medical terms. They might organize the terms alphabetically, by body region, or in a simple "know/don't know" chart.

Individually, students may have an opportunity to complete a formative practice by defining a few key terms from the list. The teacher can then gather the results and discuss with the class the most common errors. To culminate, the teacher can re-partner students and provide them with a more complex task related to the terminology.

When groups aren't working well

The beauty of using a Grouping Cycle is that it is a quick strategy. In the same hour, students are transitioning into new groupings at least three times. They may start with a 10-minute individual task, improve their work in a data-driven small group for 20 minutes, debrief their group conversation with the whole class for 10 minutes, and then engage in a new task to show how their thinking has changed.

Here, the teacher is leading the whole class for just 10 minutes. The rest of the time, they are monitoring and tweaking groups based on what they see and hear. A great chef doesn't stir, poke, and prod your dinner the whole time she is preparing it. She also tastes it along the way and makes small adjustments. So, too, does the teacher using a Grouping Cycle make these real-time changes: Individual students are swapped because one group is too quiet; tasks are changed on the fly because the whole group needs a moment of remediation.

The timing of each step in the cycle is adjusted based on the needs of the class. And the teacher remains the best resource students have, implementing Grouping Cycles as a tool for delivering high-quality instruction.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This strategy for flexible grouping mixes whole class, small group, and individual practice in one lesson and helps build a classroom community.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teacher Competencies for the Implementation of Collaborative Learning in the Classroom: a Framework and Research Review

# data[].attributes.subject
Teacher Competencies for the Implementation of Collaborative Learning in the Classroom: a Framework and Research Review

# data[].attributes.headline
Measuring Student Success Skills: A review of the Literature on Collaboration 

# data[].attributes.subject
Measuring Student Success Skills: A review of the Literature on Collaboration 