The purpose of the study is to share reflections from 202 non-Hispanic graduate students and 65 Hispanic students who have participated in cooperative written examinations for group grades. Reflections are clustered by themes identified from the students’ comments using Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomonological approach which is how the direct statements of individuals describe a common shared experience add to the affective understanding of the event. The experience is examined and defined through reflections of the participants. Students experience positive interdependence within a cooperative learning setting. Results of 202 non-Hispanic graduate students and 65 Hispanic graduate students are compared.

Classes of undergraduate and graduate students assigned to three professors were used to experience cooperative learning, jigsaw strategies, and to reflect on the process that occurred over a semester. The work is based upon theories of social interdependence, cognitive development, and behavioral learning. Pre- and post surveys were completed by 23 graduate and 57 undergraduate education students to compare and contrast knowledge about their experiences working cooperatively and specifically in a jigsaw format that included the role of expert, preparation pairs, and in groups of three where positive interdependence is structured through resource interdependence with a summary by the professor. Anonymous student reflections about their experiences were also collected. Results are analyzed and shared. Cooperative learning requires much more than simply putting students in groups as many university education students believe. By giving undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to work in jigsaw groups this project increased the awareness of the pre-service and in-service educators concerning cooperative groups using structured jigsaws. As they experienced challenges in working cooperatively themselves, they began to discuss and plan how these challenges might occur with K-12 students and how the challenges could be met through how they design lessons for their classrooms.

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