Collaborative research template for Google Docs

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When you are trying to answer a big question, there are often so many areas to research that developing an intelligent answer that considers a wide variety of information and perspectives can be overwhelming.

Researching in teams and dividing the topics for research can be a great way to gather resources and learn more in less time. In education, we call this the jigsaw method.

This video shows a method for setting up a Google Doc so that groups or individuals can research different topics and share a summary of their findings with the whole team. Each team member can then review the summaries and engage in discussion over the topics so that everyone can bring all the research topics together and build a thoughtful and informed personal answer to the big question.


Research teams will have discussions while completing their section of the document, and they usually divide the work further -perhaps each person chooses certain questions to focus on, or each person finds a different kind of source (video, encyclopedia, book, website, peer reviewed article...).

In addition to reviewing the research from other teams in the Google Doc, it is useful to take some time to talk one to one with experts on different topics. I like to get everyone to walk around the room, and when I say pause, find someone from a different team and talk about their findings.

It is also fun to set up concentric wheels: get half of the teams to stand in an inner circle facing out, and the other half to stand in an outer circle facing in. Have the inner circle person share, the outer circle person ask two questions, and then have one of the circles rotate and switch roles in talking to a new person.

Online technology is fabulous for gathering information and broadening our perspectives, and combining this with the face to face technology of oral and physical language is a great way to deepen our thinking, connect with others, and develop our capacity to engage in open-minded discourse.

Here is a copy of the research document if you would like to use it and modify for your research questions!

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