A Jigsaw Exercise in the Organic Classroom

A cooperative learning exercise utilizing a modification of the jigsaw technique is described. In a typical jigsaw classroom, students are first divided into “expert groups.” Each group is given the responsibility of learning one portion of the day’s lesson. After approximately half of the class period, the groups are redivided into “home groups” containing one expert from each subtopic in each new group. Each expert presents his or her topic to the new group, and at the end of the class a quiz is given to test the students’ knowledge of the material. I conducted a modified jigsaw exercise for second-semester organic chemistry with success.