The effect of jigsaw method on students' academic success and attitudes about History course at 9th grade

The aim of this research teaching unit "History of Turkey (11-13 Centuries)" history of secondary education, is to determine the effect of jigsaw which is a model of learning together method on the academic success of the students and attitudes about history lesson. It is also aimed to determine the opinions of the experimental group students about the Jigsaw technique. The mixed method approach has been adopted in the research in which both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together. The sample of this study consists of a total of 88 students who participated in the processing course of History of Turkey (11th -13th Centuries) conducted in a high school in the district of Of, Trabzon in the spring semester of the 2013-2014 academic year. In the quantitative dimension of the study, semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was applied. Lessons was processed by using jigsaw method of cooperative learning model in the experimental group but in the control group expressioning, questioning and answering and research methods suggested by current history lecture program were applied. "Turkish History (11th- 13th Centuries) Academic Achievement Test (TTBT)" and "History Class AttitudeScale (TTT)" were used as pretest and posttest as a data collection tool. In addition, consisting of open ended questionnaire was applied to determine the aspect of the students in the experimental group. The analysis of the data was made using the SPSS 22 packet program and the significance level of the analyzes was taken as 0.05. The datas obtained from the study descriptive statistics were categorized with unrelated samples t Test and qualitative data grouping in a categorical fashion were evaluated using the arithmetic mean ( ), standard deviation (s), frequency (f), percent (%). According to the results obtained from the pre-test Academic Achievement Test 'TTUBT' pre-test results of the groups participated in the study were found to be similar. According to the TTBT final test scores, the academic achievements of both groups increased but in the Turkish History (10th- 13th Centuries) unit, jigsaw method was found to be more effective in increasing academic achievement than the narration, question-answer and research methods. In addition, according to the results obtained from the History Teaching Attitude Scale (TDTÖ), there was no significant difference in the pretest attitud escores of the experimental and control group students, whereas when we compared the posttest attitude scores, it seems that the average score of both groups increased significantly after the experimental procedure. However, the increase in the average of the attitude scores of the experimental group students compared to the control group students was significantly higher. This suggests that the jigsaw model is more effective in enhancing students' attitudes favourable towards to history than methods based on programme. According to the result of open ended questionnaire which was applied to experiment group, the jigsaw method has made the students easier and beter learning and increased self-confidence and students' desire to study. During the implementation process negative aspects of the jigsaw method are that some students may exhibit negative behaviors and are unwilling to work together, and experience difficulties with group cohesion may be exemplified. Suggestions of students can be listed as to make jigsaw method better; doing their task beter for group mates, beter communication of the group, and reduction of noise in the classroom. It has been determined that the jigsaw method has many individual, academic and social benefits such as increasing the interest and attendance of the lessons, removing them from memorizing, providing them learning topics in a less time and purposeful learning through processing lessons in a fun way. Key Words: Cooperative Learning Model, Jigsaw Method, History Teaching, Academic Achievement, Turkish History of 11-13. Centuries, Democratic Attitude, Student aspects