Spiral Progression Approach: The Challenge

            According to the Republic Act 10533 also known as the Enhance Basic Education Act of 2013, Section 5, “The DEpEd shall adhere to the following standards and principles in developing the enhance BEC: (g) the curriculum shall use the spiral progression approach to ensure mastery of knowledge and skills after each level.”

            Spiral Progression is a teaching approach developing same concepts from one grade level to the next in increasing complexity. It revisits concepts at each grade level with increasing depth. This approach avoids the major disjunctions between stages of schooling provides the basis for continuity and consistency. Compartmentalization inhibit transfer of learning across topics; students who exit school early do not have the basic functioning skills across requisite areas especially in science (University of Melbourne, Curriculum Comparison Study, 2011).

            For example, the topic Heredity: Inheritance and Variation is taught across Grade 7 to Grade 10, but with increasing complexity in topics. In Grade 7 the topic starts with the Types of Reproduction. The students will be asked to differentiate sexual and asexual reproduction. In Grade 8, Cell Division and Mendelian Genetics will be presented.  Non-Mendelian Genetics will be tackled in Grade 9 and Central Dogma of Life is during Grade 10 (DepEd K to 12 Curriulum Guide, Science).

            Notice how the topics are gradually discussed all throughout Grade 7 to Grade 10. Consequently, mastery of knowledge and skills will be ensured. This helps learners learn the topics and skills suited to their cognitive and developmental statages. However, it is also important to note that the topics are connected to each other. To be able to understand and master the concepts and skills, one should possess the mastery of its basics, one should be able to recall. If the students could not recall the topics in their previous grades, the mastery that the spiral progression ensures would be very difficult and laborious.

            For instance, how can Grade 9 students understood Non-Mendelian Genetics if they cannot even remember who Gregor Mendel is? How can they understand the basic of DNA if they do not have the prior knowledge of word “genes” or “chromosomes?” Teachers will instead spend most of the time reviewing and going back to the basics always. So, this is the challenge in the spiral progression approach. A challenge that first confronts the teachers. Despite the fact that Spiral Progression Approach is meant to strengthen the retention and mastery of the topics and skills, the question still for the teachers is, how can they provide their students the instruction that is more memorable and meaningful?