Methods for Activating Lessons in Politics

Group Puzzle

The group puzzle is a specific, supplemented form of group work. Various groups work on a topic by dividing it up. The topic is divided up into several aspects here (there are four in the diagram). Information material needs to be prepared by the teacher in advance for each part aspect.

Possible course of a group puzzle with four groups 1. Step: each participant receives information on one of the part aspects in each case. This leads to four groups being formed automatically, what are referred to as skeleton groups. The material can also contain diagrams etc. in addition to text. What is important is that they comprise precise open questions. The participants work through the material in individual work.

Examples Institutions of the European Union - Group Puzzle with Five Groups (see example): European Commission European Parliament Council of the European Union European Council European Court of Justice Dimensions of Globalisation - Group Puzzle with Four Groups Economy Politics Environment Organisation/Culture

2. Step: Any questions open are clarified in the skeleton group (in some circumstance the teacher can act as an aid) A check is made within the group to see whether everyone has understood the results, since everyone is meant to impart these results to the others in the next step.

3. Step: The results from the skeleton groups will now be exchanged between the groups, but not - as is normal - from in front by a group speaker, but by every individual group member in front of every other member. These new group, the expert groups are formed by four members being chosen from four different skeleton groups. By way of the fact that each individual member of the original skeleton group also needs to be able to explain "his" results comprehensibly, this method increases the chance that many or even all members are motivated to contribute to group work.

4. Step: The participants return to their skeleton groups afterwards and summarise the results of the exchange in the expert groups.

5. Step: The contextual results of the work and the result of the specific method can be evaluated within the framework of the group puzzle in the subsequent discussion in the lesson.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Method

One of the advantages of this method surely is that besides cognitive goals for learning, social and method-related ones are also pursued. The fact in particular that those learning become teachers does not just increase motivation, but leads to sustainable learning success and to practicing key qualifications (explaining, listening).

As with all of the methods presented in this basic course, a large degree of preparatory effort also applies here. The success of this method stands and falls with the quality of the material prepared by the teacher. In addition using the group puzzle can also fail. Over and above this the degree of liveliness among other things resulting from the group exchange, which may occasionally almost reach the boundaries of chaos may exceed the teacher's tolerance threshold.

Example: Group Puzzle on the Structure of EU Institutions

For reasons of clarity we have placed all the material for a group puzzle on the five most important EU bodies on a different page.
... For instance

[Authors: Ragnar Müller/Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schumann]

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