Bruner's Model of the Spiral Curriculum

Modern educational theories are as abundant as the theorists proposing them, so it is often difficult to determine which theories are worthy of consideration. One of the more common and important theories comes from Jerome Bruner and teaches an intuitively appealing approach to education. Bruner's model of the spiral curriculum is an element of educational philosophy suggesting that students .

Bruner's model of the spiral curriculum was developed by American psychologist Jerome Bruner and published in his book, "The Process of Education," in 1960. Bruner developed this method after becoming interested in the cognitive development of children. He sought to determine the best way to teach children new information. He proposed that there were three stages, or modes, of learning that a child experienced. The enactive mode involves direct physical interaction of the child with the learning material. The iconic mode involves dealing with mental manipulation of objects instead of physical manipulation. The final mode was the symbolic mode, in which the learner interacts and engages with symbols without the need for physical interaction or mental imagery. These modes were not strictly separated and more than one mode could occur at the same time.Bruner's spiral curriculum educational method involves building upon previously learned knowledge and suggests a logical progression through the three modes of learning. In a spiral curriculum, there is an ever-deepening understanding of topic, themes, or subjects. The students return frequently to a topic and each successive encounter is built upon and expands the previous knowledge. New information is introduced with a relatively low level of complexity, but as the student revisits the information, the level of complexity increases.There are several key features of a spiral curriculum based on the principles of Jerome Bruner. First, the student revisits a topic, theme or subject several times throughout a course. Second, the complexity of the topic or theme increases with each revisit. The subjects become more difficult and the student is expected to learn more about the topic and to gain new knowledge or skills. Finally, new learning has a relationship with old learning. The new information is related to and put in context with the old information. The iterative process of learning proposed by this model serves to reinforce the information and to increase the learning of the student throughout the course in order to meet the educational objectives.There are many benefits to using a spiral curriculum. The reinforcement that occurs each time a student revisits a subject helps to solidify information in a student's mind. Information learned early in the course will not be forgotten by the end of the course and the overall educational experience will be more comprehensive. The spiral curriculum also allows a logical progression from simplistic ideas to complicated ideas. The complexity of the subject can easily be increased each time the student revisits a subject. Additionally, the spiral curriculum encourages students to apply the early knowledge to later course objectives. For example, a student who learns about the synthesis of a hormone early in a course can apply this information when they learn about hormone disorders.The Bruner model of a spiral curriculum has been very influential in the formation of educational policy in the United States and may be encountered at several levels of formal education. More information about the Bruner method of a spiral curriculum can be found at these websites.