Effects of differentiation based on jigsaw technique on the teaching of social studies of primary school 4th grade students

This study was conducted to examine the effect of using Jigsaw technique, one of the cooperative learning techniques, on students' academic perseverance and self-regulation in teaching the unit subjects of the 4th grade social studies course in primary school. The study was carried out with a mixed method consisting of the use of quantitative and qualitative methods together. The research design was determined as sequential explanatory design from mixed model designs. In the quantitative dimension of the study, a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest unbalanced experimental-control group was used, while in the qualitative dimension, a case study design was used. In the eight-week teaching process of the research, Jigsaw technique was applied to the experimental group, while the curriculum-based teaching method was applied to the control group. In the qualitative dimension of the research, a semi-structured Jigsaw Interview Form was applied to the experimental group students. The study group of the research consists of 4th grade students studying in two primary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the central village of Amasya in the 2022-2023 academic year. In this context, a total of 36 students, 18 students in the experimental group and 18 students in the control group, were included in the study. In the quantitative part of the study, the Academic Perseverance Scale adapted to primary school level by Bozgün (2018) and the Self-Regulation Scale developed by Yılmaz (2021) at primary school level were used as data collection tools. Qualitative data were collected with the Jigsaw interview form consisting of 12 items created by the researcher. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS 27 software, and descriptive statistical methods such as arithmetic mean, standard deviation and frequency analysis were used in data analysis. Independent groups (unrelated samples) t-test was used for the experimental and control group comparisons of pre-test and post-test scores, while dependent groups (related samples) t-test was used for the pre-test post-test score comparisons in the groups. In the analysis of qualitative data, descriptive comparative and relational content analysis was performed using MAXQDA 2020 package programme. As a result of the research, it was seen that the pre-test scores of academic perseverance and self-regulation of the experimental and control groups were at a significant level in favour of the control group. After the study, the difference between the experimental group and the control group in academic perseverance and self-regulation dimension was statistically significant. There was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in seeking help, which is a sub-dimension of self-regulation. This result is supported by the opinions of the students from the experimental group, such as the lack of disliked activities, that they had a lot of fun in the study, that they were more willing to learn, that their communication skills increased, and that the Jigsaw technique was more effective in learning in the experimental group.