Group & Team Formation

Group & Team Formation
Throughout this course, you will use a collaborative, knowledge-building technique called jigsawing. When jigsawing, each person is responsible for learning a different part of the whole picture.

In this course you will jigsaw between a Sphere Group and Event Team. You will need to go the Classroom, then to Course Space to get your randomly assigned letter (A, B, C, D) and number (1, 2, 3, 4). This letter and number will stay with you for the remainder of the course. The letter indicates what Event Team you are a part of, and the number indicates what Sphere Group you are a part of.

You will meet with the members of your Event Team in the first three weeks of the course. The chart below shows how the different Event Teams are arranged. This chart is based on the assumption that there will be around 16-24 people participating in the course.

The number you are assigned designates what Sphere Group you are to become a part of. You will work together with the members of your Sphere Group during "Sphere Study" of each three-week cycle. The three-week cycles begin in Week 4 and end in Week 15. Weeks 4, 7, 10, and 13 are the Sphere Study weeks. The charts below show, based on your assigned number, the rotation of the Sphere Groups through each of the spheres and the events.

As a member of the Sphere Group, you will become an expert in the relationship of individual spheres to an Earth event. Then as a sphere expert, you will contribute your knowledge to your Event Team.

You will work with your Event Team again in Weeks 5, 8, 11, 14, which are the Event Study weeks of the three-week cycles. The Event Team members will synthesize the knowledge contributed by each individual sphere expert and will conduct an Earth system science analysis of the event.