Hello friends, I recently came across a Teaching Channel video https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-vocabulary-development that demonstrates a vocabulary activity that intrigued me. I was eager to try this activity out and was able to do so last week. I'll explain how it worked in my pre-CNA class.
Steps: 1) I chose words from the content the students have been studying, which in our case was the cardiovascular system. 2) I prepared four cards for each word. For example, one word was angioplasty. So, on CARD A, I wrote, "Starts with the letter "A"; on CARD B: "It has five syllables," CARD C: "It ends with the letter "Y", and on CARD D, I wrote a definition: "A medical procedure which involves inserting a balloon into an artery."
Students worked in groups of four with each student being given one card. The student with CARD A, read her card first. Next the student with CARD B, followed by CARD C. At this point, the students are trying to guess the word based on the information given thus far. I was surprised how engaged the students were in trying to figure out the word. They did not want the definition read until they had tried several different possibilities. They were very pleased with themselves when they were able to figure out the word before hearing the definition.
My students found this to be a fun, interactive way to review key vocabulary. It doesn't take long at all to prepare the cards, so I'm sure I'll include jigsaw vocabulary again in the future.
What do you think of this activity? Do you think you might try it? How do you expect your students might respond?
Cheers, Susan
Moderator, Assessment CoP
Comments
I'm always interested in new vocabulary learning activities and this is one I will definitely share. I'm wondering if it would work as well if it was changed up a bit by using synonyms and antonyms on cards A and B depending on the words students are working on.
Hi Di and all, I like the idea of using synonyms and antonyms as part of the jigsaw vocabulary. I would like to try this by adding a card or two to the series. Having a synonym and/or antonym before reading the explanation would give them students another helpful hint if they have not figured out the word with the first three cards. I'm going to try it!
Has anyone else tried the Jigsaw Vocabulary? I did this again in my class this week. The students were determined to guess the word before looking at the explanation, so it created a lot of good discussion.
Cheers, Susan
Moderator, Assessment CoP
Hi Susan and others,
Thank you for introducing the community to this activity. I really liked it. In my view, adults would enjoy it as well. I think that it might be a good way to focus on extending understanding in the area of career pathways. I would also be interested in seeing how well it works in a math class too. Unfortunately, I do not have a class to try it out with, but I would be interested to hear from others.
Meryl Becker-Prezocki
Meryl, Sure, I think this activity can be done in any class -- including math. There is a lot of math vocabulary that students need to learn, including many words that have a general meaning as well as a specific meaning in math. For example, here is a list of words that have a different meaning in a math context: balance, interest, power, radical, improper, field, proof, scale, slope, positive, coordinate, plane, similar, odd, real, terms, expression.
I would try the jigsaw vocabulary activity in a math class, choosing the words that are relevant to the unit we have been working on. What do others think? Please let us know if you try it.
Cheers, Susan
Moderator, Assessment CoP