Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method

The jigsaw classroom is a cooperative learning technique with a three-decade track record of successfully reducing racial conflict and increasing positive educational outcomes. Not only does it open the door to warmer, closer friendships within and across ethnic boundaries, it has also proved effective at raising the self-esteem of students while improving their performance and increasing their liking for school and their enthusiasm about learning.

Elliot Aronson is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of California in Santa Cruz. He has long-standing research interests in social influence and attitude change, cognitive dissonance, research methodology, and interpersonal attraction. Professor Aronson’s experiments are aimed both at testing theory and at improving the human condition by influencing people to change dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours.

Dr. Shelly Patnoe is a former student and present colleague of Professor Elliot Aronson. She teaches social psychology at San Jose State University, and she is also a school psychologist practicing in the Campbell Union School District.