JIGSAW & NATIVE AMERICAN REFLECTION

Cooperative learning is a type of learning that seems to be increasing in today’s classrooms. As a student myself, I have worked with other fellow peers working in small groups. Cooperative learning is a type of teaching strategy teachers use to group students into small groups. In these small groups, students range from different levels of abilities where they take on the task to participate in a variety of learning activities. These small groups allow students to work productively with each other, and most importantly they enhance their learning and understanding on a particular topic or subject. In Dr. Smirnova’s Research in Teaching Social Studies class, she had us divide ourselves into small groups. After we divided in small groups, she introduced the jigsaw activity. She explained that as a group we will explore different Native American Tribes through cooperative learning. My experience with this jigsaw activity allowed me to realize the importance of cooperative learning, and the strengths it can brings to enhance student learning.

For this Native American activity, Dr. Smirnova decided it was best for us to use jigsaw. Jigsaw is a type of cooperative learning technique that helps promote better learning among students, increases their motivation, and most importantly as they learn it increases their enjoyment during their learning experiences. Jigsaw allowed us to successfully complete our group task, while enhancing our knowledge on the five different Native American tribes. In my group there were a total of five people including myself. As a group, we were assigned five different Native American tribes. Our “puzzle” or jigsaw was to complete the chart with the five tribes. In order to do so accurately and successfully each member of my group took responsibility for one tribe.  Once we knew which tribe we were assigned, it was then required we independently gathered the correct information on the tribe. Once our information was gathered, we were then responsible for filling out the information on the Native American group chart. Assigning a tribe to each individual allowed us to enhance an understanding of our tribe we were assigned, but also allowed us to enhance our learning on all the tribes assigned to the group.  In my experience, the jigsaw cooperative learning activity ended up being very successful. In some group situations, this may not always occur. Some group situations are known to have individuals who do participate in the correct manner.  Jigsaw being the technique that it is helps prevent this. The jigsaw technique is designed so that every member in the group is responsible for their part in the activity, since they are required to teach their topic to their fellow group members. 

Content Knowledge

Throughout my years in school I remember learning about different Native American tribes. Though I can remember learning about different tribes, much of the content taught about them in school is far beyond my memory. When the tribes were first introduced to the group, there were some tribes I didn’t know or recognize their names. What I quickly realized all the stuff I have once learned about Native Americans slowly disappeared from mind throughout the years. This group activity not only motivated me to want to learn about the tribes but also allowed me to learn and once again increase my knowledge on the different Native American tribes. Through these activity and working closesly in a small successful group with my peers, I know have a greater understanding on the life of the Iroquois, Musogee, Tlingit, Lakota, and the Dine Indian tribes. As a misconception I assumed Native American Indians were basically all the same, but what I learned was though they may have some similarities they are still uniquely different from one another.  The jigsaw activity allowed me to learn about the tribes different languages, clothing, culture, history, geography, food, habitats, and their famous people. Though I was provided with important information on the tribes, one thing that I found fascinating was the geography. I wasn’t impressed so much where the areas they lived, but I found it interesting that where they lived had a significant impact on their lives. Their culture, how they ate, build homes, and made clothing all depended upon the environment they lived in. They made use of the available resources around them to survive and live. The tribe I was assigned, Lakota, I was impressed when I learned about how culture was revolved around the buffalo and horse. They used the buffalo for food, shelter, clothing, and the horses for transportation since they were frequent movers. Since they were nomadic, they built their homes so they could easily be taken down in less than an hour. For me in particular, the Lakota tribe stood out since they were a tribe whose culture really centered on the buffalo and they migrated from place to place. The other tribes seemed to predominantly stay put in one area. Even though they also used the resources available around them, most of them seemed to also rely on farming as well.

This activity allowed me to gain a significant amount of knowledge of the Native American tribes. Working in a group and with others peers contributed to my learning about these five Native American groups. Each individual in my group did a good job in completing their parts. Each was successful in researching, gathering important information, designing worksheets, teaching, and completing their part in the group chart. In order for us to complete the group chart successfully, we all collaborated on Google documents. The collaboration my group members produced was excellent. Through each individual’s worksheet and presentation I was able to recognize how hard and diligent everyone worked. Everyone did a great job presenting. Everyone spoke very clearly and with confidence about their assigned topic. The websites we were provided in class also helped contribute to our learning about the Native American tribes. The websites were filled with a lot of important and detailed information. These websites provided a lot of resources that not only benefited my group, but also websites that I could potentially use with my own future students one day.