Jigsaw Rotation Schedule

Assign each home-group member a distinct topic and form expert groups.

Description

Jigsaw grouping links home groups with topic-based expert groups.

Jigsaw grouping links home groups with topic-based expert groups. One learner per topic from each complete home group forms the expert-group buckets.^[1]

Assign each home-group member a distinct topic and form expert groups.

When to use Jigsaw Rotation Schedule

Use this tool to assign each home-group member a distinct topic and form expert groups.

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.

How to use Jigsaw Rotation Schedule and understand its results

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.
Enter studentIds, topicIds, homeGroupSize using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read homeGroups, expertGroups, expertGroupCount. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
studentIds	Student ids	list of string	Required
topicIds	Topic ids	list of string	Required
homeGroupSize	Home group size	number	Required

Enter nonempty unique exact learners/topics and safe-integer home-group size equal to topic count. Roster size must divide exactly by that size. Return comma-joined home groups and expert groups ordered by topic list.

home groups=consecutive roster blocks; expert group j=member j from every home group

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
homeGroups	Home groups	list of string
expertGroups	Expert groups	list of string
expertGroupCount	Expert group count	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "studentIds": [
      "A",
      "B",
      "C",
      "D",
      "E",
      "F"
    ],
    "topicIds": [
      "T1",
      "T2",
      "T3"
    ],
    "homeGroupSize": 3
  },
  "output": {
    "homeGroups": [
      "A,B,C",
      "D,E,F"
    ],
    "expertGroups": [
      "A,D",
      "B,E",
      "C,F"
    ],
    "expertGroupCount": 3
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No rotation times or named topic assignments are returned. Roster order drives grouping, and commas in IDs are not escaped.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Station Rotation Schedule: Create a cyclic station-rotation schedule with one visit per group per station. For a complementary task, use Flexible Grouping Roster: Regroup learners by current assessment score into balanced contiguous skill bands.

References

Jigsaw Rotation Schedule — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Station Rotation Schedule
Create a cyclic station-rotation schedule with one visit per group per station.
Flexible Grouping Roster
Regroup learners by current assessment score into balanced contiguous skill bands.