Chapter 8
Snowballing
Snowballing comes from the metaphor of a snowball rolling down a hill. At the top it's a small ball but as it descends it gathers pace to become bigger until arriving at the bottom as a large globe. A snowballing discussion begins with individual reflection followed by sharing in ever-larger groups until everyone is involved. Earlier themes become expanded, deepened, and reconfigured as the group size increases.
Purposes
- To make sure everyone gets a chance to participate
- To provide a range of modalities in one experience—individual reflection, paired exchange, small-group discussion, and whole-class or workshop analysis
- To ensure that discussion progresses organically, with early themes and questions being threaded ...
Get The Discussion Book now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
