Enhancing Student Engagement in Social Science through the Flipped Instructional Strategy Integrated with the Jigsaw Technique among Secondary School Students

Abstract

Student engagement is widely recognized as a key determinant of effective learning and academic success. However, sustaining meaningful engagement remains a challenge in secondary school classrooms where traditional teacher-centred approaches continue to predominate. The present study investigated the effect of the Flipped Instructional Strategy integrated with the Jigsaw Technique on student engagement among secondary school students in Social Science. A 2 × 2 factorial pre-test–post-test experimental design was employed involving 550 Class IX students from four CBSE-affiliated secondary schools in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The participants were equally assigned to an experimental group (n = 275) and a control group (n = 275). Student engagement was measured using the Student Engagement Scale and the collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that students taught through the Flipped Instructional Strategy integrated with the Jigsaw Technique demonstrated significantly higher student engagement than those taught through the Traditional Teaching Strategy (t(548) = 2.776, p = .006). Significant differences were also observed between boys and girls (t(548) = –3.167, p = .002), while the interaction effect between instructional strategy and gender was statistically significant (F(1, 546) = 12.453, p < .001). The findings provide empirical evidence that integrating flipped learning with Jigsaw Technique enhances student engagement and supports the adoption of learner-centred instructional approaches in secondary school Social Science classrooms.