Introduction

The present study aimed to examine the effect of the AI-enhanced Jigsaw teaching method in collaboration between students and AI peers on academic engagement and learning among fourth-grade students in Social Studies.

Method
This research employed a quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test. The statistical population included all fourth-grade female students in District 18 of Tehran in the 2024–2025 academic year. Using convenience sampling, 72 students from two similar schools were assigned to two experimental groups: Experimental Group 1 (AI-enriched Jigsaw) and Experimental Group 2 (Jigsaw).
In experimental group 1, in addition to the jigsaw method, Otter.ai software was used as an intelligent peer. In this group, using an adaptive human feedback model and generative artificial intelligence, collaborative learning was pursued by providing feedback, answering questions, summarizing content, and adjusting content complexity.

The data collection instruments were the academic engagement questionnaire (Reeve & Tseng, 2011) and Social Studies learning test. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate covariance analysis.

Results
There was a significant difference between the groups in both learning and academic engagement variables. Specifically, students taught with the AI-enhanced Jigsaw method showed greater improvement in learning and academic engagement compared to the other group. Furthermore, the AI-enhanced Jigsaw method had the greatest impact on increasing academic engagement, followed by its effect on enhancing learning (P = 0.000 < α = 0.05).

Discussion

The results of the present study, which was conducted to investigate the effect of the Jigsaw method in two forms, usual and enriched with artificial intelligence, on academic engagement and learning, showed that integrating artificial intelligence technology with active teaching methods, such as Jigsaw, can increase academic engagement and significantly enhance learning. In fact, the use of this method caused students not only to participate more actively in the learning process but also to gain a deeper and more stable understanding of the concepts in social studies lessons by receiving personalized feedback and benefiting from content appropriate to their ability levels. According to the results, this new approach paved the way for more active student participation in the classroom and a deeper understanding, achieved through learning by teaching and collaboration with AI.