JIGSAW and PIGS

     JIGSAW is a method of teaching that allows students to work on a cooperative level. Students are to be placed in two groups. One group will be one the students stay in for some time. The other is a group of random students from other groups of different levels. 

    To start, the teacher will model. They will explain that students will be working in two groups, one JIGSAW and one mixed. The students in the home group will either read the same text and then split up into the JIGSAW or split up and read one text with the JIGSAW and then come back and explain what they learned in their JIGSAW to the home group. The students in the JIGSAW should be on different levels. I enjoy JIGSAW; it allows students to develop the PIGS. 

    PIGS, or PIGS faces, are the five elements of cooperative learning. 

    The first element is positive interdependence, and this is when each group member has one specific job, and because of this, all students must participate/do their work for the whole group to succeed. 

    

    The second element is individual and group accountability; this is when students must master the content they have to learn, and then they must try to teach the group what they learned. 

    The third element is group processing. Group processing is when a group assesses how they worked, and after evaluating, they talk about how to improve. 

    The fourth element is social skills. Social skills include leadership skills, conflict resolution, decision-making, communication, and trust-building. These social skills are needed for cooperative learning to work. 

    The fifth element is face-to-face interaction. This interaction is when group members promote one another and teach one another what they have learned in the JIGSAW. This element works alongside individual and group accountability. 

    There can also be a sixth element called a specific task. This is when students would each be assigned a job, and this element is attached to positive interdependence.  

    In class, I did the JIGSAW, and personally, I feel it was best to have the students have the home group stay the same during the year or only change it a couple times and then create JIGSAW groups. This is an excellent way to allow students to gain social skills by letting them get comfortable and then switching up the home groups maybe mid-semester or every quarter. Also, suppose you have a democratic classroom and do this activity. In that case, the students should be comfortable with switching up due to having to create a safe environment, which means you and the students have been relationship-building over the course of the whole year.