# Big Ideas

Linked to the spiral curriculum is the concept of Big Ideas in curriculum planning. The significance of thinking in this way (and the idea of the spiral curriculum) came from an American psychologist called Jerome Bruner. He said that it is important to be explicit about what the core knowledge of any subject is. Bruner argued that the teacher needs to understand the structure of knowledge so that they can make clear to learners what the key ideas are, how they relate to each other and how facts and content can be presented to make clear the network of linkages that must be understood when real understanding is achieved. Think about the work you did on explaining for Question 5.

Look at the diagram on the next page. This shows one developer’s version of the Big Ideas approach in Biology. This version shows six Big Ideas (two for each of the three content areas) and suggests for each of the five years of a basic secondary-school course when ideas relating to the Big Ideas can be introduced. Thus, within the study of Ecosystems, you have the big idea that “Ecosystems recycle resources.” The curriculum planners suggest that you could cover this through studying Respiration in year 2 and Photosynthesis in year 4. They are, therefore, creating a framework for more detailed curriculum planning to follow.

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