A Jigsaw Strategy: Teaching Opposing Viewpoints on the Ratification of the United States Constitution

Abstract

A. Vincent Ciardiello is chair of the Social Studies Department at Jane Addams Voca tional High School in Bronx, New York and Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. C ocialstudieseducatorsgenerallyagree W-J that two major goals of the twenty first century should be the development of critical thinking and cooperative learning skills (1). These objectives do not have to be separate endeavors. There is an opportu nity to use critical thinking skills while engaged in cooperative learning (2). In deed, cooperative learning research has in dicated that the attainment of higher-level thinking skills is a concomitant develop ment of student team learning (3). In social studies research there is evidence that coop erative learning procedures increase stu dents' thinking skills (4). A cooperative learning strategy that offers promise for the development of think ing skills is the jigsaw technique introduced by Aronson and his colleagues (5). This strategy employs a high degree of task specialization in which students become proficient on selected topics and then share with others in the group. As specialists, students have the opportunity to delve deeply into the topic and enhance their thinking skills. According to critical thinking advo cates, a skill that is essential for cognitive development is that of recognizing oppos ing viewpoints (6). This skill identifies an author's beliefs on issues and recognizes the stated and unstated assumptions that sup port these perspectives. John Stuart Mill offered the following persuasive case for learning this skill: The only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this (7). Recognizing point of view is a skill that is readily adaptable to the jigsaw strategy. Each part of an issue can be investigated separately. Since each point of view can stand independent of the others, the mate rial can easily be divided into alternate positions. Each jigsaw group could repre sent a different point of view. All points of view are needed to be known to fully under stand the issue.