jigsaw: a good student-centered method in medical education

Introduction: today, student-centered methods must be used to train students with professional competency. one of the most valuable methods is jigsaw (jt). despite its various positive effects on students’ learning, not all teachers are familiar with jigsaw. in order to familiarize teachers with this method and encourage them to use it in teaching their students, this article introduces jigsaw, its types, its effects, and its applications as well. method: this is a review study evaluating the related articles using keywords such as jigsaw method, cooperative method and student- centered learning in pub med, proquest, scopus, sid, and magiran in 2004-2017. at first, 122 papers were found and finally 46 articles were examined. results: jt is a cooperative teaching method in small groups and its stages include: activities before class by teacher (preparing written curricula and preparing test), activities during class (forming random home groups, providing the same course content to all groups, individual study at a particular time, forming jt groups and discussion on content at a particular time, returning to home groups, designating an administrator in each group, and providing content by any of the members of home groups to the other group members at a specific time), evaluating groups through multiple-choice tests. jt is a small group that has 4 types (i, ii, iii, and iv). the positive effects of jt include: an increase in motivation, enjoying learning, learning achievement, self-confidence, and self-esteem, refreshment of information, interest, and communication. conclusion: this cooperative method can be used in different educational levels (primary school, high school, and university) as well as in different disciplines (medicine, nursing, dentistry, rehabilitation, midwifery, pharmacy, medicine, education, english, social sciences, chemistry, islamic education, physics, and mathematics. this cooperative method is recommended to teachers in different courses to improve various aspects of students' intelligence such as critical thinking, problem solving, achievement, self esteem, self confidence, and interest for learning.