How we got Started
Tina
I got started spiralling during COVID and haven't looked back. Originally I didn't think of it as spiralling, I was thinking about organizing my year by inquiry cycles using real world phenomenon as the overall theme for each unit. I used lightning, algae blooms (which I've since abandoned) and home science as a starting point and since we were in COVID learning conditions that ended up being a good fit for the time and conditions we were learning in. For each cycle, I walked through what different connections I could make to the traditional units and specific expectations, and built the cycle from there. So for example, with lightning we explored static electricity, the atom and some trends in the periodic table (based on atomic structure), nutrient cycles (nitrogen cycle specifically but could add in the water cycle), ecological succession and impact of climate change (increasing forest fires due to increasing number of storms). Now, as I'm planning, I am starting to intentionally plan when I introduce topics so that we can build on them in later cycles for a higher level of understanding. An example of this is introducing the importance of nutrients for plants in the first 3 weeks of class so that when we talk about nutrient cycles during the lightning cycle it is building on the idea of our ecosystem's cycling.
Suggestions for Getting Started:
There are many ways to spiral, and two of these are spiralling content in cycles or spiralling content using an overarching phenomenon or idea like lightning.
Spiralling Cycles: Using spiralling cycles usually has the class moving through small parts of each of the traditional units, for a couple of days at a time. Start with initial, introductory concepts for each of the units for the first cycle and then from there determine what your next chemistry/biology etc concepts you will cover in the next cycle. The big idea when using spiralling cycles is to introduce content in a way that allows students to build more and more understanding as you move through each cycle.
Phenomenon / Concept Cycles: To get started with concept cycles, it's easiest to start with a few ideas that can connect to the specific expectations, a good place to start if nothing jumps to mind is the application based concepts that normally wrap up a unit. These concept cycles may not always include concepts from each of the units, but the goal is to connect to at least 3 of the traditional units.
Some suggestions;
Lightning (static, the atom, trends on periodic table, ecological succession, nutrient cycles)
An Asteroid is coming for Earth, Where are we moving? (The Planets, Human Space Exploration, Coding, Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, Energy production)
Home Science (HHPS/WHMIS, current electricity, coding, energy production)
Sustainable Food Production (ecosystems, human impact on environment, climate change)