Spiral curriculum is model of education/ learning theory in which learning occurs by “an iterative revisiting of topics, subjects or themes throughout the course” (Harden and Stamper, 1999, p. 141). This model of education/ learning theory is widely attributed to the American Psychologist and Cognitive Theorist Jerome Bruner.
As shown in the image, topics are encountered with increasing complexity according to the learner’s cognitive ability and new learning is built upon previous learning.
In the curriculum, ‘fundamental ideas, once identified, should be constantly revisited and re-examined so that understanding deepens over time” Howard (2007, p. 1).
When learners re-engage with a topic repeatedly, they both consolidate prior knowledge in their memory and build on it over time. Each time the content is re-visited, the student gains deeper knowledge of the topic.
The spiral approach to curriculum design reminds us that courses are not singular, set-in-stone units of work. Each course or unit of work that we cover builds upon something previously. In order to design a curriculum using a spiral approach, you need to create units of work that increase in complexity and start off where the previous unit ended.
This approach enables us to work with educators who taught previous semesters, or years, to develop a cohesive approach to teaching.
A group of educators can, use a tool such as Bloom’s Taxonomy to come up with learning outcomes at different stages of a course.
Educators would develop learning outcomes that have increasing levels of complexity:
The advantages of this approach to curriculum design (Harden and Stamper, 1999, p. 142) include: