When I began to learn about constructivism, that added another piece to the puzzle. The final piece was my participation in a class through the Gateway Writing Institute, where I read Nonfiction Matters, by Stephanie Harvey, and conducted an action research project on inquiry-based instruction in my classroom. As I watched my students take control of their learning, I saw them become more responsible, more involved, and more successful. Since then there's been no looking back. Jigsaw is a group structure that can be used across all content areas.
Students start with a home group.
That group is responsible for learning an assigned portion of a task that is prescribed by the teacher. In the jigsaw groups, students share information and complete some sort of project or product. When Berg wanted her students to grasp the concept of the definition of a fairy tale, she decided that it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate the jigsaw approach. Berg began by having her students divide into five equal groups. Each group got one fairy tale to read.