African Educational Research Journal - Volume 9 - Issue 4 - Examination of the Structural Effectiveness of the Jigsaw Method

Oct 15, 2026

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This study examines how the structural effectiveness of the jigsaw method affects middle school students’ academic achievement. Using a pretest-posttest experimental design without a control group, 24 students (15 boys, 9 girls) completed a 20-question Science, Technology and Society achievement test. Analyses used Wilcoxon Signed-Rank and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with Mann-Whitney U plus Bonferroni correction. Results show jigsaw II increased achievement across all test dimensions, with significant differences among expert groups. Students performed better in assigned expertise topics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

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Introduction

Literature Review

Abstract

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(4), pp. 963-974, December 2021 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.94.21.144 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Examination of the structural effectiveness of the jigsaw method on students Ayşe Seyhan Faculty of Education, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Turkey. Accepted 10 December, 2021 | ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine the effectiveness of different methods by comparing the academic achievement levels of jigsaw groups in the subjects they are experts in and in those they are not experts in. The sample of the study, which was carried out with a pretest posttest experimental design without a control group, consisted of 24 middle school students, 15 boys and 9 girls. A 20-question “science, technology and society achievement test” was used as the data collection tool. The test included 5 questions about each of the 4 topics of expertise assigned to the groups. The achievement that had a reliability coefficient of 0.85 was applied in the jigsaw groups as the pretest and the posttest. Since the data did not show a normal distribution, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for the analyses. In the analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was used to determine which groups had significant differences. The results showed that using the jigsaw II method increased the academic achievement of the students in all dimensions of the test. However, a significant difference was found between the success levels of the jigsaw groups in the dimensions of the test. This result showed that students are more successful in their assigned subjects than other subjects.
Keywords: Cooperative learning, jigsaw II, social studies, expert groups. | | --- | | E-mail: [ayse.seyhan@erdogan.edu.tr. Tel:](ayse.seyhan@erdogan.edu.tr. Tel:) 05373098917. | INTRODUCTION The cooperative learning model , founded by Kurt Koffka, Kurt Lewin and Morton Deutsch in the early 1900s, is based on the theories of Piaget (1965) in cognitive terms and Dewey (1938) and Vygotsky (1962) in social terms. The features, rules and principles of the cooperative learning model were later developed by David and Johnson (1999) , Slavin (1978) and Kagan (1994) . Cooperative learning is a model based on students learning the content by helping each other in small mixed groups. In this model, small heterogeneous groups of students work to achieve a common goal (Johnson and Johnson, 2018) . Cooperative learning methods with certain principles and criteria have been developed since the 1970s, unlike traditional cluster studies (Ekinci, 2011) . These methods are based on the principle of giving the responsibility of learning to the student and developing certain social relationships among the members of heterogeneous groups (Gök et al. , 2009) . Differences between cooperative learning methods originate from the arrangements made to increase the effect of the critical aspects of these methods, as well as issues such as the organization of the classroom (Sucuoğlu, 2003) . The success of cooperative learning methods depends on some principles. These are the positive dependency, individual evaluability, supportive (or face-to-face) interaction, social skills, assessment of group process (Johnson and Johnson, 1998; Sharan and Sharan, 1994), equal opportunity for success, and group reward/common product (Açıkgöz, 2007) conditions. Although the conditions specified in the cooperative learning model are common, these methods differ from each other in terms of tasks, study, group competition and reward features. Slavin (1983) aimed to increase cooperation within a group by stating that the jigsaw method developed by Afr Educ Res J 964 Aronson (1978) does not have a group goal and individual accountability. For this purpose, he added the features of expert groups taking a proficiency exam before returning to their original groups, forming a team score by combining the grades that students

FAQs

What research design and participants were used to test the jigsaw method?

The study used a pretest-posttest experimental design without a control group with 24 middle school students (15 boys and 9 girls).

What assessment tool measured student learning outcomes?

A 20-question “science, technology and society achievement test” was used, covering four expertise topics. Reliability for the pretest and posttest achievement application was reported as 0.85.

How did the jigsaw II method affect academic achievement and group dimension results?

Using jigsaw II increased students’ academic achievement across all test dimensions. However, significant differences were found among the students’ success levels across the test dimensions, showing stronger performance in assigned expertise subjects.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen