On November 9th, 2016, I may have witnessed the closest we can ever get to running a perfect jigsaw in a large class. Dr. James Scoates ran the activity with more than 75 students in EOSC 220 (Mineralogy) and had them working to apply previously-learned concepts to completely new material in a group setting. The entire class was using theory they had gathered throughout the semester to solve real-world problems; this connected the techniques they have learned to identify and classify minerals to using those techniques with unknowns. So, this entire activity was based upon using the theory beyond the classroom and provided the students with the perspective that they can now apply what they have learned to the natural world.
The objective was for the students to each become experts in one of three mineral groups they have not encountered yet, share their expertise with others who studied different mineral groups, and then, as a combined group, solve three higher-order questions, one based on each of the mineral types.
James started the lesson by giving a brief introduction and handing some samples around the room to add context to the activity. The students also had some homework to complete online that started them thinking about the concepts tackled during the activity, but not the activity directly. This was to save time.
Two TAs were present at the session, and then began handing around the assignment before the class started. Cleverly, the sheets were already in groups of three, so the expert groups were already next to each other, saving time. James explained the activity, giving it the jigsaw name, and explains the timing. During this introduction, the two TAs dealt with the latecomers and made sure they were organized into expert groups, too.
After giving some time for them to read their part and become ‘experts,’ they got together in their expert groups for 8 minutes and discussed a few questions that James posed on the board. They were done this part of the activity only 17 minutes into the 50-minute class, probably due to the background information they got from doing the homework.
After getting into their jigsaw groups, James gave them additional instructions about when they will be switching from one mineral type to another and what is expected of them (they had to answer a higher-order question for each). He then made sure to keep a slide up with all of this important information as they went through each of their mineral types (actually two slides on two different screens running through two different computers – James uses this a lot and it’s awesome!). The students then got one sheet of paper per expert group and worked on solving the higher-order questions, mentioned above, together. As the students were working and time started running out, James began going through some synthesis slides. With the remaining 5 minutes he solicited answers for each of the higher-order questions from groups he visited that he knew had gotten the correct answer.
I have all of the supporting material (worksheets, homework, etc.) from theis lecture and still have some questions for James … so stay tuned!