Strategies

Snowball

A kinaesthetic opportunity to put an instructional spin on a 'paper snowball fight' as students share what they learn with each other.

Quote from Discovery Education UK

What is it?

Snowball is an instructional strategy wherein students write a discussion prompt (statement, question, etc.) related to a topic or concept on a piece of paper. The prompt is intended to encourage discussion and/or help them to better understand the subject matter. This instructional strategy can be led, with an instructor question or prompt, but ultimately, the student drives the discussion focus. These prompts can relate to a reading, video, previous lecture or a question about the course content.

Purpose: It can be used as an icebreaker activity, to review content from a previous lesson, or as preparation ...

When to use it?

Context & Requirements

Level: All levels
Discipline: All disciplines
Class size: All class sizes
Classroom settings: No specific classroom setting required
Technological requirements: None

Skills Promoted

Cooperative & collaborative Learning
Divergent thinking
Peer learning
Problem solving
Reflective analysis

Who’s using it?

SALTISE community members who use this strategy and are willing to share advice and/or resources.

Level	Insttution	Discipline	Instructor	Class size	Classroom setting	Resources used
College	Dawson College	Anatomy	Tim Miller	30-40	Traditional Classroom with Whiteboards or interactive whiteboards	View More

Level	College
Institution	Dawson College
Discipline	Anatomy
Instructor	Tim Miller
Class size	30-40
Classroom setting	Traditional Classroom with Whiteboards or interactive whiteboards
Resources used	View More

With snowball, students are exposed to “publication” of their knowledge and are given the opportunity to peer review another group’s work. This requires students to cooperate in order to come to a consensus. Because each group presents their findings, students can be exposed to more examples in the time that it takes them to work through one.

When different groups go at a different pace this can complicate how the class is managed. If one group is too far ahead, assistance can be provided to the teams that are lagging behind without hindering the group learning process. If one team is only slightly ahead, they can be provided with additional questions or asked to revisit what they have done.

Ready to try it out?

Helpful resources

References

Gani, S. A., Erwina, R. & Yusuf, Y. Q. (2017). The Effectiveness of Snowball Throwing Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension. Conference paper: The 1st National Conference on Teachers' Professional Development, At Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia...

Marlena, N. (2016). Implementation of learning snowball throwing method to improve student learning outcomes of operation management subject. he 1st International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, At Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Negeri Surabaya..

The Science Teacher (2011). The Snowball Questioning Method..