Understanding Contested Illness through a Role-Playing Jigsaw Activity

Abstract

In the current activity, students use a jigsaw cooperative learning strategy to learn about diverging perspectives related a contested illness scenario. Contested illnesses are those that are somewhat disputed in the medical community or do not have a clear physiological cause. During this activity, students will gain information about contested...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Disabilities, Medical Sociology, Mental Health

Resource Type(s):

Class Activity

Class Level(s):

College 200, College 300, College 400

Class Size(s):

Medium, Small

Usage Notes

This activity is best suited for upper-division courses focusing on the sociology of health or medical sociology. Jigsaw is a powerful cooperative learning strategy, but it can be a bit confusing for students. Instructors should familiarize themselves with the strategy prior to implementation of this activity. During this activity, students conduct...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students can identify and apply the key elements of the social construction of health.
2. Students can describe information about chronic fatigue syndrome, a contested diagnosis also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Students meet this learning goal if, in their written response, they describe how the activity shows that diagnostic categories are not “natural,” but rather they are created by individuals and groups and vary across time and place. Students will have failed to meet this learning goal if they provide an inaccurate definition or fail to make the connection...
2. Students meet this learning goal if, in their written rationale, they include novel information about CFS/ME, Somatic Symptom Disorder and/or disability claims related to these disorders. Students will have failed to meet this learning goal if they do not include information that provides a rationale for the diagnosis or if they include general...