Evaluating the Effectiveness of Jigsaw-Based Learning in Medical Education: Students' Perceptions and Feedback

Background The medical education system periodically revises the teaching-learning strategies. Medical students find it difficult to cope with pre-clinical subjects due to limited patient exposure and traditional didactic lectures. This study introduced a jigsaw method for revising biochemistry topics and assessed first-year medical students' perceptions and feedback on its effectiveness and implementation in medical education. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study enrolled 80 students for a jigsaw exercise on the topic "carbohydrate chemistry." Students were divided into four groups guided by a moderator. Further subgroups were created in each group, and each student was assigned a subtopic in "carbohydrate chemistry." Students with common subtopics were regrouped to self-study the provided study material. Students then reassembled in their original subgroups to teach their respective subtopics to their peers. Thus, it enables all students of a subgroup to learn all subtopics of the main topic in a short time as an interactive team. In the end, students filled out a feedback form providing their opinion about the effectiveness of the exercise. Results Out of 80 students, 71 responded to the survey, yielding an 88.75% response rate. Most students opined that the jigsaw exercise enhanced their understanding (N = 59, 83.1%), clarified concepts (N = 54, 76.1%), improved retention (N = 55, 77.5%), and communication skills (N = 59, 83.1%) and that it is a good method to revise topics (N = 58, 81.7%). Most supported its inclusion in the medical curriculum (N = 56, 78.9%) and recommended frequent use (N = 49, 69%). Conclusion The jigsaw exercise seems promising for improving students' understanding, clearing doubts, enhancing retention and communication skills, and fast revision. The authors recommend its inclusion in the curriculum to facilitate self-directed active learning.