Researching the pieces of a puzzle: the use of a jigsaw learning approach in the delivery of undergraduate gymnastics

Abstract

There have been strengthening recommendations that physical education (PE) should make a wider contribution to learning beyond that of psychomotor development. Cooperative learning models show considerable potential for study in PE but as yet these remain unexplored. This article reports upon an undergraduate gymnastics programme delivered using a jigsaw learning approach. A purposive sample of 61 third‐year PE undergraduates was selected for the study and data were collected using focus‐group interviews and field notes. In evaluating the jigsaw learning approach it became apparent that while it had clearly met the needs of a wider set of priorities, such as those of the affective and cognitive learning domains, it fundamentally failed to facilitate psychomotor learning. Such tensions may well become increasingly apparent as practitioners of PE navigate its place within future educational structures and raise interesting questions as to what ‘high‐quality’ PE should actually be.

Keywords:

• physical education
• higher education
• jigsaw learning