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Prompting AI to Draft “Jigsaw” Discussion Activities

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Description

Jigsaw discussions are a form of active learning in which students first develop focused knowledge about a topic and then work to integrate their knowledge with different pieces of knowledge that others have learned.

To accomplish this two-step process, each student belongs to two groups: an Expert group and a Sharing group, and they meet with their two groups sequentially.

Before class, expert groups are each assigned different pieces of material to learn.  During class, Expert groups first convene to calibrate, then they adjourn into Sharing groups composed of one member from each expert group. Every expert must share what they know in order for the group to make a decision or complete a task. This activity enables students to fluidly move between the roles of expert and learner.

AI can help you think through many things when designing a jigsaw activity, from how various pieces of content might inform each other to concrete logistics on the day of the activity. As the instructor you will of course bring your knowledge, expertise, experience, and creativity to designing any activity–especially those you have begun with AI–but AI can be very helpful in just getting started.

Steps

  1. Get clear about what you want and why. What are your goals? Do you want to kick around ideas, or are you focused on generating a specific product?

For example, you may already have a specific group decision-making activity in mind or want some suggestions.  You may have a collection of readings in mind, or you might want Claude to suggest some combination of readings from materials you upload, or you might even want Claude to recommend readings to see if it suggests something you had not yet discovered.  Any of those situations are fine places to start.

  1. Gather materials to inform your work with Claude. This might be a syllabus, assignment guidelines, specific readings that you already have in mind if you have any, or learning outcomes from the course that you want the activity to focus on.
  2. Begin prompting. You may already have an idea for a prompt. If not, try:

You’re an expert in learning activity design for R1 university students. I’m planning to use the jigsaw method for teaching [TOPIC] in my [COURSE LEVEL] [SUBJECT] class. Provide a step-by-step guide for implementing this activity, including how to divide the content, structure group formations, manage time, and ensure individual accountability.  Ask me what questions you need to until you have enough information to suggest an activity design.  Ask one question at a time, and no more than five total.

  1. If you use the prompt above, first you’ll need to answer Claude’s questions to help it prepare its output.  Review the output it then generates. Is there anything you hadn’t thought of that you want to keep? Is there anything you might want to add, delete, or consolidate?  Is there more that you want Claude to consider? Below are a few examples of follow-up requests you might want to make:

Claude might suggest groups that are too large, and you need to prompt it for smaller groups.

At a more complex level, Claude might suggest an assessment task in which groups have to “choose the best answer from 3-4 options” but not provide suggestions for what those options might be.  In this case, you can ask it “Please suggest the content of what those 3-4 options could be.”

You may imagine that students have completed their group activities and now you want to have a whole class discussion.  You could ask Claude “Please give me suggestions for how to facilitate a whole-class discussion after Sharing groups have completed their work.”

You may also be curious about what other readings or preparation material might be freely available that you could use for this activity.  In this case, you could ask Claude “Please suggest copyright-free readings that students could use to prepare for this activity.”

From the suggestions it offers, you might even ask it “From these reading materials, please suggest a specific collection of readings that students could read to prepare for this activity.  No specific reading assignment should take more than one hour for students to read.”

  1. Continue to prompt Claude. Refine the output until you are satisfied. For example, you may want to run it several different ways to compare versions, tell it to keep the same version and update specific areas, change the level of language for different readers, distill or elaborate. Be sure to check the outputs, as the same prompt may yield different results.

Suggestions

Clearly Define Roles and Expectations: When designing jigsaw activities, assign clear roles and responsibilities to each group member. Providing structured prompts or guiding questions ensures accountability, helps students remain focused, and enhances both individual and group understanding.

Ensure Meaningful Interdependence: Effective jigsaw tasks require students to rely on one another to achieve shared learning goals. Design activities so that each group member’s contribution is unique and necessary, encouraging deeper collaboration and critical thinking.

Facilitate Expert and Sharing Group Interaction: Allocate time for students to first meet with their expert groups to deeply engage with their specific topic. Afterwards, allow sufficient time for sharing groups to reassemble and synthesize these diverse perspectives, supporting broader understanding and reinforcing key concepts.

Provide Opportunities for Reflection and Assessment: Incorporate brief reflective activities or formative assessments at the conclusion of the jigsaw exercise. This allows students to consolidate their learning, address misconceptions, and enables instructors to evaluate the effectiveness of the collaborative activity.

References

Aronson, E., & Patnoe, S. (2011). Cooperation in the classroom: The jigsaw method (3rd ed.). Pinter & Martin Ltd.

Karacop, A., & Doymus, K. (2013). Effects of jigsaw cooperative learning and animation techniques on students’ understanding of chemical bonding and their conceptions of the particulate nature of matter. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 22(2), 186-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-012-9385-9

Theobald, E. J., Eddy, S. L., Grunspan, D. Z., Wiggins, B. L., & Crowe, A. J. (2017). Student perception of group dynamics predicts individual performance: Comfort and equity matter. PLOS ONE, 12(7), Article e0181336. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181336

Tran, V. D. (2019). Does cooperative learning increase students’ motivation in learning? International Journal of Higher Education, 8(5), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n5p12

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