Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2008

Abstract

Classes of undergraduate and graduate students assigned to three professors were used to experience cooperative learning, jigsaw strategies, and to reflect on the process that occurred over a semester. The work is based upon theories of social interdependence, cognitive development, and behavioral learning. Pre- and post surveys were completed by 23 graduate and 57 undergraduate education students to compare and contrast knowledge about their experiences working cooperatively and specifically in a jigsaw format that included the role of expert, preparation pairs, and in groups of three where positive interdependence is structured through resource interdependence with a summary by the professor. Anonymous student reflections about their experiences were also collected. Results are analyzed and shared. Cooperative learning requires much more than simply putting students in groups as many university education students believe. By giving undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to work in jigsaw groups this project increased the awareness of the pre-service and in-service educators concerning cooperative groups using structured jigsaws. As they experienced challenges in working cooperatively themselves, they began to discuss and plan how these challenges might occur with K-12 students and how the challenges could be met through how they design lessons for their classrooms.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

College Teaching Methods & Styles Journal

DOI

10.19030/ctms.v4i2.5519

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.