Jigsaw teaching is a teaching strategy that involves students working individually and cooperatively to complete a project. Here are the steps to the jigsaw teaching strategy.

Step one: First divide the students into equal groups if possible. For example: if there are 20 children in a class there can be five groups with four students per group. The groups should be arranged in advance. This is to help make sure that they are compatible. The student groups should be diverse so that there different abilities, races, and genders per group. This helps the groups to be able to learn from each other.

Step two: Assign each group a leader. The leader should be someone who can help guide the group and be able to give good direction in helping the group’s individuals learn what they need to know to be able to teach their part to the other groups. This is done so that a teacher does not always have to be right there all the time. The leader of the group should be the most mature of the group.

Step three: Give each group a separate assignment that is related but not the same as the other groups. The groups will be as follows. Group one will be given the task of researching the animals of the salt marsh. Group two will be given the task of describing what a salt marsh is and where it is located. Group three will be given the task of describing the tides, the changes in the tides, and the effect it has on the salt marsh ecosystem. Group four with research and describe the salinity of the salt marsh and how and what makes it change. Group five will be given the task of researching the plants of the salt marsh

Step four: Hand out a rubric with what information each assignment should know at the end. Once the assignments have been given allow the students time to research and write a rough outline for their presentation. Make sure that the students have access to the information that they will need to complete this assignment. For example make sure that there are books, internet, tapes, etc. Allow the students one or two class periods to study and research their assignments to allow for enough time to get a good understanding of their topic. This is done so that students learn their material well enough so that they can teach it to another group and have them understand what is being taught.
At the end of the second class period have the students turn in their rough outline so that you can grade it.

Step five: Return the rough outlines to the students and have them make corrections as necessary. If they have left out any information allow them time to make sure they understand what is needed to be able to teach it. Have them complete a final outline of their subject and have them write a paper that matches their outline discussing what they have learned. The outline and paper will help the students to have a guide for their presentation. This also helps the students so they will be a little less nervous when they present their information to the next group.
Step six: The next step is when everyone feels comfortable with teaching someone else about what they just learned and analyzed, the students are broken up into mixed groups with one student from each group in the new group. Hand the students the same rubric you gave the groups earlier with the information that should be known by each group member. As each member takes his or her turn to teach the group, have the other members of the group grade each member as to the information given. This will help focus the students as they are listening to the presentations of the group members. This is done so that each student gets a chance to show what they have learned and teach it to someone else. Since the assignments are related the students can see the how it relates to their piece of the puzzle.

Step seven: Once each group has heard each member teach his or her subject hand out a rubric that includes what is needed for the over all presentation that is to be done by the groups. Have the new groups put together an outline for the entire project on the salt marshes. Each group will need to discuss and create a visual aid to use during their groups presentation to the entire class. The information should match the information in the rubric. The group needs to decide what order would be best to present their information in. They will also need to create their visual aid for their presentation. This can be done in one or two class periods depending on the time you have available for this project. The reason for this is to give the students an opportunity to work together to create a finished project that contains all of the information needed to be able to completely understand what a salt marsh is. It’s like putting all of the pieces together to make a complete picture.

Step eight: Have each group present their final presentation. Each student will be given a rubric for each group. As the group presents their presentation the students must give the group a grade for the information given, the way it was presented, the type of visual aid and how the visual aid was used to show what was learned about the salt marshes. This is done so that each student must present as part of group. The rubrics are given so that the other students have to focus on each presentation. Explain before the presentations take place the proper way to be respectful to the groups.

Step nine: When the presentations are finished put the students into groups and have them review the information that was presented. Have them create ten questions that they might put on a test. Have the students turn in these questions as groups. This is done to help the students review the information that was presented to make sure they have a good understanding of the content. When the class period of about half way over do an oral review of the information to see if the students have any questions about the content. Give them another copy of the rubric so they can use it as a study guide for the test.

Step ten: Give the students a test that consists of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and a short essay based on the rubric. Add some of the questions that they created in step nine to the test. This is done to test the knowledge of the content that they have just learned. The students don’t necessarily have to know all the material equally well but well enough to understand it. This is done so that the students have to learn on their own well enough to teach it and they must listen to their peers in order to get the whole picture.

A follow up needs to be done on an individual basis to make sure that the individual student have learned their part and has also learned the parts from their peers. This can be done by visiting each group and asking the individuals questions about the content they are learning. The students are turning in individual outlines and a paper of their subject matter. This is graded to see if they have knowledge of their content. Another assessment that is given for this project is the final test. This is done to see what the students indiv

For the group assessment I would have the group present their final puzzle to the class. The groups would be graded on presentation, the critical points of the lesson, the participation in the group, and also on the groups own evaluation of each member. I would hand out to the final groups a rubric so they would know what was being required to know. Each student will complete an evaluation on the group. The teacher will also complete an evaluation for each group. These evaluations will be based upon the rubric that was previously handed out.