There are four basic steps in the process of jigsaw learning.
- Material to be covered is divided into independent sections. The number of sections determines the number of students in each "Home Group".
- Students are all placed in Home Groups and within those groups each student is assigned as an "expert" to be responsible for a particular topic.
- Experts learn their own topic either individually or cooperatively with other experts in an "Expert Group".
- Experts return to the home group and each person teaches the rest of the home group about the body of material that was covered.
Sections of content - 4 to 6 is a good number.
Students assigned to Home Groups - 4 per group for
4 content sections.
Each student in Home group takes one content section
- becomes an Expert.
Experts come back and share their knowledge with the Home Group.
Each member of each group ends up
seeing the "Big Picture" once the process is finished, and
without each student fulfilling their role, the puzzle remains incomplete.
