What Are Scope and Sequence in Education?

Scope and sequence in education provide a structure for learning by helping educators present the learning material in a logical order. This supports student learning, and it maximizes further learning opportunities for both students and faculty. Without a scope and sequence in the delivery of educational information, students could miss important details and become lost.

Scope is the breadth and depth of content that an educator covers in class. For instance, because literature is such a prolific topic, those classes are usually broken down into classical literature, European literature, American literature and so on. From there, the curriculum is further broken down into how much the educator will cover over certain periods of the course. This could be by week, from test to test or any other method the educator feels would provide the best learning environment.

Sequence is the order in which the educator presents the content to learners throughout the course. Some educators may feel that following the book from beginning to end makes the most sense, so he or she presents the material in the same order as the book. Other educators may feel the information in textbooks is not presented logically, and so they may skip around and come back to earlier chapters later. Educators must decide the sequence before a course begins to be effective.

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