Putting the pieces together: comparing the effect of jigsaw cooperative learning and lecture on public health students’ knowledge, performance, and satisfaction

ABSTRACT

The present research was conducted to compare the effects of two methods of traditional lecture and Jigsaw Cooperative Learning on the students’ knowledge, performance, and satisfaction. This quasi-experimental study was done on 50 public health students, who had been chosen through available sampling. The performance and satisfaction of students was measured through two researcher-made 80 and 18-item questionnaires after receiving the training. Data were analyzed through SPSS 2423.0 software. The mean score of knowledge in the pre-test stage in the jigsaw and lecture groups was 11.40 and 10.56, respectively, while these values in the post-test stage significantly increased in the jigsaw group compared to their lecture counterpart (16.68 vs. 10.76) (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the score of poster and pamphlet preparation, role-playing, and slide preparation in all subscales (P < 0.001). The mean score of satisfaction was higher in the jigsaw group in all subscales except for motivation (P = 0.17) and problem-solving (P = 0.43), compared to the lecture group (P < 0.001). The results indicated that the JCL method, by engaging students in the teaching-learning process, could cause enhanced knowledge, performance, and satisfaction of the learner, helping them deal with their courses with greater interest. .

KEYWORDS:

• Jigsaw teaching
• cooperative learning
• lecture
• students
• satisfaction
• knowledge
• performance

Acknowledgments

The authors highly appreciate all individuals who cooperated in this research, especially students of Asadabad University of Medical Sciences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This paper has been extracted from the M.Sc. thesis with proposal code 394 approved by Smart University of Medical Sciences. The necessary permissions were obtained to conduct the entire study from the ethics committee of Smart University of Medical Sciences (Ethics code: IR.VUMS.REC.1401.017). Also, informed consent was obtained from the participants and the oral informed consent was approved by the Ethics Committee of Smart University of Medical Sciences. All experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The present study has been of a comparative type, with no harm or threat to the participants, and the results have been employed only for enhancing the education of students.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author’s contributions

FD participated in the research design and implementation of the intervention, data gathering, writing the draft of a primary manuscript, and editing the final paper. ZK Participated in research design, preparing and validating questionnaires, data analysis, and editing the final paper. AR participated in writing the draft of a primary manuscript and editing the final paper. All authors confirmed the final draft.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fatemeh Darabi

Fatemeh Darabi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Asadabad School of Medical Sciences, Asadabad, Iran. Second Affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Smart University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Zahra Karimian

Zahra Karimian, (Corresponding Author), Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and M.Sc. in Medical Education, Associate Professor, Department of e-Learning in Medical Sciences, Virtual School and Center of Excellence in e-Learning, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Second Affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Smart University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Alireza Rohban

Alireza Rohban, M.Sc., Department of Rehabilitation Management, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.