Jigsaw Cooperative Instructional Strategy and Students' Achievement in Civic Education: Implications for Sustainability Education

Abstract

This study examined the effect of Jigsaw Cooperative Instructional Strategy (JCIS) on students’ achievement in Civic Education, with particular attention to gender dimensions and implications for sustainability education. This research adopted a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design. The study sampled 586 Senior Secondary II (SSII) students from government-owned schools using a multistage sampling procedure. A validated 50-item Civic Education Achievement Test (CEAT) with a reliability coefficient of 0.89 served as the research instrument. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at a 0.05 significance level. The findings revealed that students taught Civic Education using JCIS achieved significantly higher mean scores than those exposed to conventional instructional strategies. Male students recorded substantially higher mean scores (69.01) than females (64.49), but there was no significant interaction effect between instructional strategy and gender on achievement. The study concluded, amongst others, that JCIS enhances students’ academic outcomes in Civic Education. This research contributes to the existing literature by revealing that JCIS, as an effective instructional strategy, can be leveraged to advance equity, inclusivity, and transformative civic learning.