The Jigsaw Classroom

In this chapter, Elliot Aronson describes the back story behind how he and his graduate student invented the jigsaw classroom, how it was born of necessity out of the interracial turmoil that followed the desegregation of schools in Austin Texas. After systematically observing the classrooms, we determined that one of the major causes of the turmoil was the highly competitive nature of the classroom interacting with the unequal preparation of the children of the three major ethnic groups. Specifically, the black and Latino students, having been educated in sub-standard schools, entered the newly desegregated classroom one full grade level behind their Anglo classmates in reading comprehension. This discrepancy, in a highly competitive classroom, worked to exacerbate existing stereotypes and ethnic prejudice. The result was discomfort, taunting, and aggression. The jigsaw strategy “forced” students to cooperate with one another in order to learn the day’s lesson. This required them to pay close attention to listen, and even to assist one another. In the process, students began to appreciate positive aspects of their classmates that had previously been hidden by prejudice and discomfort. In controlled experiments, it was found that students in jigsaw classrooms mastered the material better than students in traditional classrooms. They also liked school better (absenteeism was lower than in traditional classrooms), their liking for one another increased, and they showed greater empathy than students in traditional classrooms. The results of the initial experiment have been replicated in dozens of classrooms in various sections of the country. The jigsaw strategy has now been employed in thousands of classrooms throughout the world.