Zaragoza 1

Spiral Curriculum and Retention Outcomes in Learning

Sandra. E. Zaragoza

East Texas Baptist University

EDUC 5322-Dr. Tonya Knowlton

October 27, 2016

Authors Note
This a literature review of my research of spiral curriculum and its effects on retention in learning.
Literature Review Outline

Zaragoza 2

Spiral Curriculum and Retention Outcomes in Learning

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

What is Spiral Curriculum?

a. Definition and explanation of Bruners spiral curriculum
Jerome Bruners Spiral Model Outlined for Learning
a. Researchers various model of spiral curriculum
The Man Who Fathered the Idea
a. Jerome Bruner and his involvement with education reform
Effects on Learning Outcomes
a. Learning mastery with spiral curriculum
Summary and Reflection
a. Thoughts and reflections by Sandra E. Zaragoza

Education today is battling with the controversial issue of which specific "curriculum" is the best. There
is no one definition for "curriculum." Jerome Bruner is one theorist, educator, and phycologist who has
shaped how curriculum is planned, created, improved, implemented, and evaluated. Jerome Bruners
spiral curriculum gives us models of this spiral approach, and how it affects learning. Many
researchers of curriculum will present the specificity of this approach. More discussion and elaboration

Zaragoza 3
will then further explain the benefits of the spiral curriculum in the education system today. Many
schools in America have adopted this model and have seen success in childrens learning. Many schools
around the nation are onboard with this approach by Jerome Bruner.
What is Spiral Curriculum?
McLeod (2008, Educational Implications) states that in a spiral curriculum, learning is teaching
in a scaffold process over time rather than being concentrated in shorter periods. Spiral curriculum
achieves solid retention outcomes by revisiting the material and concepts taught repeatedly over a period
of time and across grade levels. According to the article by McLeod (2008), the main premise of
Bruners text, The Process of Education, was that students are active learners who construct their own
knowledge (McLeod, 2008, Educational Implications). Bruner adopts a different view of many other
theorists about understanding complex information. Bruner believed that a child of any age is capable of
understanding complex material: We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught
effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development.
Jerome Bruners Spiral Model Outlined for Learning
The spiral approach begins in the primary grade levels where learning is then a scaffold process.
Teaching is appropriately designed to the correct level of difficulty of the learner. Many researchers have
outlined various models of Bruner's spiral curriculum.
Sheldon Clark (2010, pp.1-2) states according to Bruners book, The Process of Education, that
there are four key themes that emerge out of Bruners work (1960: 11-16):

Zaragoza 4
1. This role of structure in learning is central in teaching. The teaching and learning of structure, rather
than simply the mastery of facts and techniques, is at the center of the problem of transfer (Spiral
Curriculum).
2. Readiness for learning. Schools are wasting peoples time postponing the instruction of essential areas
because they are too difficult. Any subject can be effectively taught in some intellectually honest form to
any child, at any stage of development (Spiral Curriculum).
3. Intuitive and analytical thinking. This is an essential feature of learning and productive thinking.
Bruner states how experts appear to leap intuitively into a decision or to a solution to a problem. He
looked to how teachers and schools might create the conditions for intuition to increase (Spiral
Curriculum).
4. Motives for learning. (Smith, 2002, p. 3) Interest in a subject, Bruner believed, is the ideal motivation
for learning rather than trying to get good grades and awards of achievement. Jerome Bruner states that
students interested in the material learned, is the best stimulus to learning. Motives of learning go from
being passive learners to more intuitive learners. They must be based, as much as possible, upon the
arousal of interest in what there is to be learned, and must be kept broad and diverse in expression
(Spiral Curriculum).
(Clark, 2002, p. 2) External motivations such as grades or other rewards meet an applied
standard of success. Teachers must provide materials and activities that pique childrens interest,
motivating them from within to pursue opportunities which will, inevitably, further their own growth.
Clark verifies Bruners ideal that learning must be based as much as possible upon the arousal of interest
in what there is to be learned (Clark, p. 3).

Zaragoza 5
Veladat and Mohammadi (2011, p.1117) models the steps to spiral learning and teaching: 1)
audio-visual clips, 2) a teachers question, 3) a comprehensive response and grouping, 5) a teachers
questions and responses accompanied by images and sounds, 6) mind emancipation, 7) writing what has
been learned, 8) comprehensive study, 9) revise-review notes, 10) a teachers conclusion, and 11) a feel
of satisfaction. This teaching method is the spiral learning pattern that occurs during a lesson cycle (p.
1117).
According to Mark K. Smiths review (2002), Jerome Bruner has made many profound
statements throughout his years as the leading contributor to education and curriculum. He states in his
postscripts: The Process of Education and Towards a Theory of Instruction and The Relevance of
Education:
To instruct someoneis not a matter of getting him to commit to the results to mind. It is
teaching him to participate in the process that makes possible the establishments of knowledge.
We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student
to think mathematically for themselves and to consider matters as an historian does. Learners
should take part in the process of knowledge getting, because knowing is a process not a
product.
The Man Who Fathered the Idea
Mark K. Smith, (2002, pp.1-2) explains that many educators and experts have been singing the
praises of Jerome Bruner. Many educational books, journals, and the like have featured this man
throughout his studies and his works. Jerome Bruner, the professor of psychology from Harvard,
researched child development, influenced by Lev Vygotsky. He has shaped the understanding of the

Zaragoza 6
education process. Bruner was particularly interested in the meta-cognition of children as they
developed. He also was curious of the appropriate forms of education for each of the stages of child
development.
Takayas (2008, p. 1) review states though a psychologist by training, Jerome Bruner has always
been and still is one of the leading figures in education. Takaya states that Bruner's theory of education
in the 1960's and 1970's directly influenced the programs of education formulated during this time.
Bruner was also involved in educational reform, and he was marked by the fact that America was in
urgent need of improving its schools and curriculum. This was mostly caused by the Sputnik shock of
1957. The launch of Sputnik by Russia caused Bruner to question the validity and level of education our
children were receiving. America's education system was to realize that its system was lagging behind
the Soviet Union in preparing scientist, and also citizens who were well educated in areas such as
science and math (p.5). Education's elite looked to Bruner for answers.
Takaya (2008, p. 5) states that Bruner blamed the inadequate educational principles on John
Dewey. Bruner argued that in order to enable the transfer of thinking process from one context to
another, children needed to learn the fundamental principles of subjects rather than just master facts.
Takayas study (2008, pp.13-14) stated that Bruner says that the process of teaching and learning is a
matter of communication that is not quite accommodating to the traditional universalistic or scientific
view. Lecturing remains one of the most popular methods of transmitting information and ideas by
teachers, trainers, and speakers. Bruner states that in the traditional framework, learning was understood
as the relation between the students mind and the object of knowledge (1966p. 178); (Takaya, 2008, p.
13). When children are involved in a traditional classroom setting, the learners may distinguish three

Zaragoza 7
levels of learning. The learning stays at a superficial level. Educators used to conceptualize learning only
at the first level only.
Effects on Learning Outcomes
Veladat and Mohammadi (2008, p.1115) also add that Bruner believed that man communicates
with their five senses and uses these senses to address the needs in the environment that they live in
(p.1115). (Takaya 2008, p. 6) Bruner's goal of education 'becomes disciplined understanding' (p.122). He
means that it is not sufficient to have information in the sense that it is simply a multiple choice or short
answer question. The information or learning must be structured so that the individual can: a) expand
and deepen b) go beyond what is simply given. According to Takaya (2008, p.6), Bruner states his spiral
curriculum and discovery learning as a probable solution to America's inadequate education system.
Johnson (2012, The Spiral Curriculum) gives the benefits of the spiral curriculum advocate the
following:
The information is reinforced and solidified each time the student revisits the subject matter.
The spiral curriculum also allows a logical progression from simplistic ideas to more
complicated ideas.
Students are encouraged to apply the prior knowledge to later course objectives.
Interactive, concrete, manipulative instructional approaches will manipulate the learners in the
early grades to introduce very sophisticated topics in almost any subject, although math and science
might provide the greatest amount of evidence of this approach.
Activating the learners mind to build new learning on previously taught materials, produces
great learning gains for almost all students, regardless of age or developmental level.

Zaragoza 8
This model is ideal national system of education. The use of spiral curriculum appears to
produce very solid results.
(Takaya, 2008, p. 2 Bruner's view of learning describes that the child's 'culture'-being aware that
culture is not a simple entity, but a phenomenon that consist of various layers of cultures and
uncultured denotes an environment in which we live, and it embodies " a set of values, skills, and
ways of life." He also says that 'culture' is the 'toolkit' for sense-making and communicating (1966,
p.3); as such, it enhances our presumably natural endowment in actions, perception, sense-making,
and thought."
Clarks study (2010, p.3) states: Coupling the aspects of learning with Bruners ideas of a spiral
curriculum enables any school to present ideas to children at any age. Revisiting concepts over time as
they reach toward mature understandings will provide children with opportunities to become creative,
intuitive problem solvers, equipped with the skills they need to conduct and express their own deepening
knowledge Clark also stated in her review that Jerome Bruner was one of the most important people in
the twentieth century, but it was his contributions in the field of education that Bruner made such an
impact and the world of education definitely feels it. Two of his books, The Process of Education and
Towards a Theory of Instruction, have been greatly recognized and influential works that reveal Bruners
ideas and educational ideologies. Bruners view of young children and learning have some underlying
principles of different concepts-the structure of ideas rather than to simple memorize related facts and
data. Clark states that Bruner believed that as children grow, the curriculum that is to be taught to
children should be a concept taught from the previous learning in the previous grades. The students
should get a chance to revisit earlier learned ideas. This will allow the child to expand upon the idea in a
more complex setting. They will relate the simple to the complex. The student will reach a more

Zaragoza 9
complete understanding as it relates to other ideas (Jerome Bruner: Teaching, Learning and the Spiral
Curriculum, p. 1). Asked, 1999, p 1 provides a connection from an article over a book written by Liping
Ma. Ma attempts to broaden and deepen math instruction in the elementary grades. Askey (1999, p.8)
explains how the teachers need to prepare lessons and study or complete professional development to
further deepen their mathematics instruction. Askey (p.8) refers to Liping Ma's book when she
interviews a Shanghai teacher describing how he prepares for class: this teacher spends much of his
time preparing for what he is going to teach. He asks some relevant questions during his preparation.
What is it that I am going to teach in this lesson. How should I introduce topic? What concepts or skills
have the students learned that I should draw on? Askey continues, the Shanghai teacher asks several
other questions that will allow intuitive thinking to occur. how am I going to pull out the knowledge and
make sure my students are aware of it and the relation between the old knowledge and the new topic? In
a word, one thing is to study whom you are teaching, mother other thing is to study the knowledge you
are teaching. If you can interweave the two things together nicely, you will succeed. We think about
these two things over and over in studying teaching materials.
Veladat & Mohammadi, (2011, p. 1122) explains that the spiral approach is very interactive. It is
trying to make the students think in a different way. The students are to ask questions, answer the
essential questions, and write a learning summary to reach their learning goal. Veladat and Mohammadi
encourages teachers to be familiar with many lesson modalities to ensure that learning in happening in
their classrooms. In their review Bruner states that teachers are to let the students discover a method of
solving the problem or answering the essential question. They should do this with trial and error. The
opportunities that the teacher provides, the more discoveries and more learning will occur than one wellprepared lesson could ever accomplish. When teachers are done teaching, there should be some learning

Zaragoza 10
outcomes. They state that the spiral method will increase learning and learning will be retained as well.
Let the students discover a method, with trial and error. These opportunities bring about more
discoveries and more learning than one well-prepared lesson could have accomplished.
Saul McLeod (2008, 2012) writes that Bruner's aim of education should be to create autonomous
learners. They should be learning to learn. In his research on the cognitive development of children
(1966), Jerome Bruner proposed three modes of representation. These modes of representation are the
way in which information or knowledge are stored and encoded in memory."
In conclusion, Mark K. Smith (2002, p. 4) Concludes in his review with a quote by Howard
Gardner when he commented about Bruner:
Jerome Bruner is not merely one of the foremost educational thinkers of the era; he is also an
inspired learner and teacher. His infectious curiosity inspires all who are not completely jaded.
Individuals of every age and background are invited to join in. Logical analyses, technical
dissertations, rich and wide knowledge of diverse subject matters, asides to an ever wider orbit
of information, intuitive leaps, and pregnant enigmas pour forth from his indefatigable mouth
and pen. In his words, Intellectual activity is anywhere and everywhere, whether at the frontier
of knowledge or in a third-grade classroom. To those who know him, Bruner remains the
Complete Educator in the flesh (Gardner 2001:94;( Mark K. Smith, 2002, p. 4).
Summary and Reflection
Many teaching models prove to have better learning outcomes, and they aim to be the best model
of teaching, however the spiral approach is best if you are trying to achieve mastery and retention.

Zaragoza 11
I recall my learning in my undergraduate studies. This philosophy was so powerful. I confess to
being a long-winded person. I can stand up in front of the room and entertain and teach all day long. I
constantly have to remind myself that the students need time to do for themselves. The lesson cycle I
more often now is the I do, we do, and they do lesson model. The I do portion of my lesson needs is
the smallest portion of the lesson cycle, however its essential nonetheless. The we do portion is just as
powerful. The increments of time for the concepts to be learned will develop over time. Lastly, the they
do portion is where the most powerful and meaningful learning occurs. I then become the facilitator. I
allow students time to apply the learning as I pace the room assessing and checking for understanding.
When students see the lesson as purposeful and relevant to their learning, the concept will be acquired,
and the life-long learning goals of my lesson will be achieved. I truly believe that spiraling the
curriculum leads to better long-term mastery of facts, skills, and concepts over time. We will see more
students graduating high school and will be prepared for post-secondary instruction and learning.
Students will then pursue their masters and then their doctorates.
We are living in times where the classroom has to be a child-centered learning environment.
Many schools have already discovered this type of learning for themselves. However, how do we
convince the traditional, well-respected educators, that we need to provide these opportunities for these
children in the 21st century to promote this type of learning? With this shift, we all need to act fast to
instill this value and dialogue that students are ultimately our goal and we need to reach them. They will
be prepared for their future world.
Jerome Bruners spiral curriculum ensures powerful and meaningful learning outcomes. Retention
is inevitable. Sound and organized delivery of instruction is the cause. For retention to occur, lessons

Zaragoza 12
require Bruners methods of learning. Spiral, revisit, and master the learning. Bruners spiral approach
will solidify the reasons why our school systems need to make this shift.
Changing something as drastic as the curriculum from spiral to mastery may also force changes in
other problem areas, such as teacher burn out and dropout levels. If students are given a smaller range of
things to study, looking at them in greater depth, they would probably be more inclined to stay in school,
simply by eliminating boredom. Changing a curriculum to a more specialized one would also focus the
teachers attentions, allowing them to implement more exciting and engaging projects. The mastery
curriculum could be taught with project-based learning and still work effectively. These changes needed
to make high schools a better place might not be effective, but reducing boredom is certainly a step in
the right direction.

Works Cited
Askey, R. (1999, Fall). Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. American Educator, 1-8.
Clark, S. (2010). Jerome Bruner: Teaching, Learning, and the Spiral Curriculum. 1-3.
GTC/General Teaching Council for England. (2006, May 01). Jerome Bruner's constructivist model and
the spiral curriculum for teaching and learning. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
www.gtce.org.uk

Zaragoza 13
Johnson, H. (2012, March). The Spiral Curriculum. EPI Education Partnerships, INC. Florida, USA.
Retrieved from www.educationpartnerships.org; http:/www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/bruner0506/;
http://www.refernece.com/motif/Education/bruner's-model-of-the-spiral-curriculum;
http://www.csun.edu/science/books/sourcebook/chapters/24-curriculum/graphics/layeredspiraling.html
Manguso, A., & Mullahoo, P. (n.d.). The Benefits of a Spiral Curriculum in Kindergarten. 12-13.
McLeod, S. (2008, updated 2012). Bruner. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Smith, M. K. (2002). Jerome Bruner and the process of education. the encyclopedia of informal
education. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/jerome-bruner-and-the-process-of-education/;
[http://infed.org/mobi/jerome-bruner-and-the-process-of-education/
Spiral Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
https://www.scribd.com/document/283709217/Spiral-Curriculum
Takaya, K. (2008). Jerome Bruner's Theory of Education: From Early Bruner to Later Bruner.
Interchange, 39, 1-19. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
https://www.deepdyve.com/browse/journals/interchange/2008/v39/i1
UCSMP/UChicago STEM Education. (2001). Spiral Curriculum. Retrieved from
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm
Veladat, F., & Mohammadi, F. (2011). Spiral learning teaching method: Stair stepped to promote
learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811028060

Zaragoza 14

Bibliography

Askey, R. (1999, Fall). Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. American Educator, 1-8.
Clark, S. (2010). Jerome Bruner: Teaching, Learning, and the Spiral Curriculum. 1-3.
GTC/General Teaching Council for England. (2006, May 01). Jerome Bruner's constructivist model and
the spiral curriculum for teaching and learning. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
www.gtce.org.uk

Zaragoza 15
Johnson, H. (2012, March). The Spiral Curriculum. EPI Education Partnerships, INC. Florida, USA.
Retrieved from www.educationpartnerships.org; http:/www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/bruner0506/;
http://www.refernece.com/motif/Education/bruner's-model-of-the-spiral-curriculum;
http://www.csun.edu/science/books/sourcebook/chapters/24-curriculum/graphics/layeredspiraling.html
Manguso, A., & Mullahoo, P. (n.d.). The Benefits of a Spiral Curriculum in Kindergarten. 12-13.
McLeod, S. (2008, updated 2012). Bruner. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Smith, M. K. (2002). Jerome Bruner and the process of education. the encyclopedia of informal
education. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/jerome-bruner-and-the-process-of-education/;
[http://infed.org/mobi/jerome-bruner-and-the-process-of-education/
Spiral Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
https://www.scribd.com/document/283709217/Spiral-Curriculum
Takaya, K. (2008). Jerome Bruner's Theory of Education: From Early Bruner to Later Bruner.
Interchange, 39, 1-19. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
https://www.deepdyve.com/browse/journals/interchange/2008/v39/i1
UCSMP/UChicago STEM Education. (2001). Spiral Curriculum. Retrieved from
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm
Veladat, F., & Mohammadi, F. (2011). Spiral learning teaching method: Stair stepped to promote
learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811028060

Zaragoza 16