The problems and some solutions
One of the biggest challenges faced by many young people when tackling independent learning assignments in the upper phases of secondary school, where the work involved is undertaken intensively over a prolonged period of time, lies in maintaining impetus after their initial enthusiasm has passed and they feel that the sources they had earmarked at the outset for examination have been exhausted. This may be a particular issue in large-scale studies associated with, for example, the Extended Project Qualification or the Historical Investigation at Sixth Form level. No doubt most teachers will have developed counter measures for responding to such problems.
In the case of some assignments, the situation is, however, complicated by the fact that there are clearly defined limits stated by the Examination Board as to the help that teachers can offer. Staff may not, for example, be allowed to suggest named items that the candidate should read or to pre-mark draft versions of any developing essay. With regard to fostering the students’ independent learning skills, such assistance is of dubious benefit anyway. Advice that the candidates are given in terms of specific sources and comments on their work are bound to be peculiar to the youngster’s immediate situation; in the long run, it is more helpful to inculcate in students generic strategies that they can transfer to a range of scenarios.
Andrew and Melanie have discovered that the most fruitful avenue lies in taking a cue from snowball sampling—a method often employed for the collection of qualitative data, typically via interviews (either one-to-one or focus group) in primary research. Here the inquirer acts on referrals by the first informants in order to converge on more people who may be asked for data, then requests from them the names of additional contacts, and so on.
The fundamental principles can be used in literature-based research, too. In this type of work, the inquirer capitalises on the potential—as intermediaries—of sources consulted early in the investigative process to provide inspiration for and momentum to the later exploration of materials, authors and issues. Andrew and Melanie alluded to this practice in their previous article for Creative Teaching and Learning.1 This new piece is devoted more specifically to how teachers can guide their students as they aim to widen their search for information within a big independent learning project.
Whether the context is primary or secondary research, where snowballing is adopted the amount of worthwhile information builds gradually, like a growing snowball. Some strategies for snowballing in the latter context are obvious and commonly employed. For example, after finding an item via Google Scholar, the searcher may click on ‘Related articles’ to see other appropriate material on the same area. A physical variation involves tracking down a useful source via a library catalogue, going to the shelves to find it and then looking at the books around it to locate similar texts.