Determine if the ‘jigsaw’ technique of classroom management will work for selected use in the day’s activities. Organize ‘jigsaw’ by dividing the class into groups of four/five students each. Select a role per student per group. Each member will meet with their corresponding role members, research their topic, brainstorm pertinent ideas correlating to the subject material, then report back to their original group. Each group will then have an‘expert’ in each represented field.

All of the activities below are suitable as individual stations for whole class management of the lessons presented in Digging for Gold! Teachers must determine space available for stations, class size, etc. Stations may be set up for three or four activities, then small numbers of groups may participate while the rest of the class works online, researches topics, creates activity projects, etc. Groups may then rotate through the stations until everyone has completed each activity.

Materials list:

• journal to record data
• scissors
• string
• meterstick
• book or objects to test spring scale

Create a Classroom Station:

This activity requires a group of three students per group. Each student will take a turn as recorder, measurer, object gatherer. They may brainstorm ideas as to acceptable calculations to record data in their journals. Lesson extensions may be completed on an individual or group basis.

For more detail on this lesson activity, check out the full lesson plan.

Materials list:

• journal to record data
• fishing line
• book
• scissors
• meterstick
• string
• pulley
• spring scale

Create a Classroom Station:

This activity encourages pairs of students to work as a group. They may take turns conducting the pulley experiment, then recording their data. The lesson extension can be an individual exercise.

For more detail on this lesson activity, check out the full lesson plan.

Materials list:

• topographic maps
• atlas of Australia/Queensland
• journal/pencil

Create a Classroom Station:

This activity requires a group of four/five students. They will study a topographic map, identifying longitude/latitude, and may subdivide into pairs for this portion of the lesson. Other group members will be comparing and contrasting regional maps from a classroom atlas with the same locations found on the ‘topo’ maps. Groups then brainstorm possible answers to the lesson questions.

For more detail on this lesson activity, check out the full lesson plan.

The following is an example of how the jigsaw technique can be utilized in conjunction with lesson extensions. For details on each lesson extension, reference the lesson plans for each activity (see above).

Lesson Extension for geography:

• Students will utilize a map from an atlas to compare and contrast settlements, determining how regional geography affects settlement development.
• Identify and list information such as landforms from topography maps, longitude/latitude coordinates, community elevation, and climates that encourage settlement or inhibit development of an area.
• Determine if the environment of the region can sustain a population and, if so, what size of population. How is it dispersed around the region? What are some of the determining factors that affect sustainability?

Geography Jigsaw:

Divide the class into groups of four/five per group. Assign each group member a role to play, i.e., cattle station owner, tourist, Aboriginal land council member, environmental scientist.

Each group will determine a plan for the region’s use. They shall take into account viewpoints from people from a variety of backgrounds and interest in the region’s development.