Limits Jigsaw

This group project (pdf here) was conceived to help students get a better grasp of limits, through the discovery of a variety of mathematical fields that use ideas equivalent to the concept of limit as seen at the beginning of a calculus course.

The four areas of researched were:
1) Zeno's paradoxes
2) ViHart video: "Doodling in Math class: Infinity Elephants"
3) 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16...
4) Fractals

For more detail about each option, please download the pdf document.

The project is based on the Jigsaw method, which is a cooperative learning structure. Here is a brief summary: Students are each assigned one of the four areas of researched. After looking up information on their own for a short while, they are grouped by "expertise". For example, the 5 students working on Fractals get together. They share information, develop ideas, and clarify their understanding together. After that, students are placed in "jigsaw groups", where each student comes from a different specialty. These groups of 4 are responsible for teaching all that their learn about their area of expertise.

Eventually, students have to compile an end product that covers the 4 areas. In my case, the end product was a chapter using iBook Authors.

Students are dependent of each other to learn what they need. The most valuable part of the project is the reflection each student needs to write about how these four areas are similar to the concept of limits.

                                                       (link to pdf here)

The rubric we used was the following (pdf link here)