The Effect of Jigsaw Technique on the Students' Laboratory Material Recognition and Usage Skills in General Physics Laboratory-I Course

Abdullah Aydin,Filiz Biyikli

doi:10.13189/ujer.2017.050701

Abstract

This research aims to compare the effects of Jigsaw technique from the cooperative learning methods and traditional learning method on laboratory material recognition and usage skills of students in General Physics Lab-I Course. This study was conducted with 63 students who took general physics laboratory-I course in the department of science education at a state university in Turkey during 2012-2013 academic year. The randomly selected class 1-A consisting of 32 students was assigned as the experiment group (jigsaw group) and the class 1-B consisting of 31 students was assigned as the control group for the study. The Material Recognition and Usage Skills Test (MRUST), Laboratory Skills Evaluation Test (LSET) and Jigsaw Opinion Scale (JOS) were applied. The results were analyzed by SPSS and frequencies were calculated and independent sample t-test was performed. When the analyses of the study were evaluated, it was concluded from the comparison of the experiment group, to which jigsaw technique was applied, and the control group, where traditional learning method was used, that the laboratory skills of the experiment group developed more than that of the control group. Moreover, according to the results of the opinion scale only applied to jigsaw group at the end of the study, it was found that the jigsaw technique created a more effective learning environment in laboratory practices.

Highlights

As an individual, each student’s abilities, learning styles, thinking styles, motivation levels and interests differ from each other
This study investigates the effect of collaborative learning versus traditional learning method on students’ understanding of the students’ laboratory material recognition and usage skills in general physics laboratory-I course
The pre-test and post-test data obtained from Material Recognition and Usage Skills Test (MRUST) and the independent t-test analysis of these data are given in Table 2 and Table 3

Summary

Introduction

Each student’s abilities, learning styles, thinking styles, motivation levels and interests differ from each other. It will be facilitated to provide each student with unique education through their acquiring of the “learning to learn” skill, which is a necessity of both modern educational system and science education involving different scientific process skills. Learning is an active process that takes place in the mind of the learner, and during which information from sources in the environment is re-interpreted in terms of existing knowledge and understanding. Whilst there are certainly differences in emphasis-for example, in the extent to which knowledge construction should be seen as an inter-personal rather than just an intra-personal activity it is generally accepted that meaningful learning requires the student to make sense of new information in terms of existing ‘cognitive structure’. The overwhelming evidence for this type of approach is the vast literature on students’ alternative conceptions in science, which demonstrates that ‘understanding differently’ is as likely an outcome of teaching as understanding-as intended or not understanding (i.e., not making any sense of the presentation) [2, 3]

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