Agent skill

Spiral Curriculum Designer

by THU-MAIC in THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC

Designs a multi-lesson course series around a few core concepts that return at higher levels of complexity, abstraction, transfer and boundary awareness, not as repeated review.

MITAuto-check passedEducation

SKILL.md written in Chinese; this summary is our English description.

Install Spiral Curriculum Designer

skills CLI
$ npx skills add THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC --skill spiral-curriculum -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC spiral-curriculum --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/agent-runtime/spiral-curriculum .claude/skills/spiral-curriculum && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
spiral-curriculum
GitHub stars
40k
Token cost
~1.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
282 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
25
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Designs a multi-lesson course series around a few core concepts that return at higher levels of complexity, abstraction, transfer and boundary awareness, not as repeated review.

  • Works in 4 steps: 保留什么:哪些已有理解不需要重新教学; → 增加什么:本轮新增的内容或条件; → 重组什么:哪些孤立知识需要组成机制或关系; → …
  • Designing a course series where core ideas return at deeper levels
  • SKILL.md covers 适用范围, 第一原则:Revisit 不等于 Review, 页面内容红线 and 概念脊柱, plus 9 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Written in Chinese, this skill plans a series where a handful of core concepts return across lessons, each time at a structurally higher level in the manner of Bruner's spiral. Its first principle is that a revisit is not a review: every return must answer what is new compared with last time, in at least one of six dimensions (complexity, abstraction, relationship density, representation, transfer distance, and boundaries and counterexamples), or it is just repetition and must be rewritten.

Planning starts from a concept spine of about three to six concepts, each written as a transferable understanding with starting and final targets, then a Spiral Map of each concept's encounters. For each revisit the agent decides what to keep, add, reorganize and transfer, using growth operators such as ADD_COMPLEXITY, ABSTRACT, FORMALIZE and ADD_EXCEPTION, normally one main operator plus a few helpers. It records concept memory during the conversation, rereads earlier stages before drafting the next, writes a Spiral Contract per stage and keeps planner terms off student-facing pages. It builds on stage-design and curriculum-planner and is not for single standalone lessons.

When your agent uses it

  • Designing a course series where core ideas return at deeper levels
  • Organizing a unit by how understanding develops rather than by a topic list
  • Checking a plan for revisits that are only review in disguise

Example prompts

  • “Design a spiral curriculum for a six-lesson unit on ecosystems with four core concepts.”
  • “Check whether the third lesson really deepens the energy flow concept or just repeats it.”
  • “Write the Spiral Contract for lesson four, listing which concepts return and what grows.”

Requirements

  • The stage-design and curriculum-planner skills it builds on

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. 保留什么:哪些已有理解不需要重新教学;
  2. 增加什么:本轮新增的内容或条件;
  3. 重组什么:哪些孤立知识需要组成机制或关系;
  4. 迁移到哪里:用哪个新情境检验概念结构。

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4c67608. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Spiral Curriculum Designer loads about 1.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 131 tokens; SKILL.md has 282 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~131
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC at commit 4c67608, republished under its MIT licence (© THU-MAIC). 282 words, ~1,184 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/spiral-curriculum/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
spiral-curriculum
description
Design a multi-stage OpenMAIC course series around a small concept spine whose ideas return repeatedly at higher levels of complexity, abstraction, relationship density, representation, transfer distance, or boundary awareness. Use when the user explicitly wants a Bruner-style spiral curriculum, progressive conceptual revisits, or a series organized by how understanding develops rather than by a linear topic list. Do not use for a single standalone stage or a series that only needs sequential coverage.
title
螺旋式课程设计

螺旋式课程设计

设计一组系列课,让少数核心概念在整个系列中反复回来,并且每次都发生结构性升阶。最小设计对象是“概念脊柱 + 每个概念的遭遇史”,不是某一节课的目录。

先加载 /stage-design 获取单节课堂的创建基线,并加载 /curriculum-planner 获取多课堂文件夹、跨课堂读取和批量交付规则。本 Skill 在它们之上增加螺旋架构、升阶操作符和假螺旋检查。

适用范围

用于以下请求:

  • 用布鲁纳螺旋式课程设计一个单元或系列课;
  • 让同一批核心概念跨课重访并逐步深化;
  • 以学习者理解如何发展为主线,而不是按教材章节线性排课。

不要用于:

  • 单节独立课,此时使用 /stage-design 和相应主题 Skill;
  • 只要求按顺序覆盖内容、没有概念升阶重访的系列,此时使用 /curriculum-planner;
  • 风格复制或 PPT 直接导入,此时使用 /style-clone 或 /pptx-import。

第一原则:Revisit 不等于 Review

“第 1 课讲概念、第 3 课复习概念、第 6 课再复习”不是螺旋。每次重访必须明确回答:这一次比上一次多了什么?

每次重访至少在以下一个维度升级:

维度初次接触后续重访
复杂度单一关系多变量相互作用
抽象度具体案例一般模型
关系密度孤立概念与更多概念连接
表征方式直观经验图示、模型、符号
迁移距离熟悉情境陌生情境、跨领域
边界与反例正例反例、边界、局限

如果一次回来没有在任何维度更高,就只是重复,必须重写。

页面内容红线

Concept Spine、encounter、growth operator、Spiral Contract、revisit、概念脊柱、遭遇史、●/▲/◆ 等属于教师侧规划语言。它们可以出现在对话、架构和页面 brief 中,不得出现在学生可见的标题、标签或正文。

“本次比上次多了什么”写进 brief,不写成学生页面上的“复杂度升级”标签。老师与代理的口述走 narration / actions,不写成“老师说”“学生说”的静态正文。

概念脊柱

不要先排课时清单。先回答:整个系列结束后,学生真正应该建立哪几个能够反复使用和迁移的核心观念?

  • 每个核心概念写成一句可迁移的理解,而不是名词;
  • 一个系列通常选择 3–6 个核心概念,避免过多导致每课浅尝辄止;
  • 每个概念同时声明初始理解目标和最终理解目标,作为 Learner Progression 的两个端点;
  • 可结合 /understanding-by-design 确定大概念、基本问题和表现性证据,再用本 Skill 安排跨课升阶重访。

Spiral Map

为每个核心概念维护跨课遭遇史:直觉经验 → 机制解释 → 多变量关系 → 形式化模型 → 陌生情境迁移 → 与其他概念整合。

教师侧 Spiral Map 可以使用:

  • ●:首次接触;
  • ▲:深化;
  • ◆:综合与迁移。

每个标记旁边还必须写明本次新增结构。只有符号、没有升阶说明的表格没有价值。

规划一次重访

对每个 concept + previous encounter + target growth 决定四件事:

  1. 保留什么:哪些已有理解不需要重新教学;
  2. 增加什么:本轮新增的内容或条件;
  3. 重组什么:哪些孤立知识需要组成机制或关系;
  4. 迁移到哪里:用哪个新情境检验概念结构。

升阶操作符

  • ADD_COMPLEXITY:增加变量或相互作用;
  • ADD_RELATION:让当前概念与另一个概念形成必要关系;
  • ABSTRACT:从案例上升到一般模型;
  • FORMALIZE:引入符号、模型或专业语言;
  • CHANGE_REPRESENTATION:在操作、图像模型和符号表征之间重构概念,不机械套成固定课次顺序;
  • INCREASE_TRANSFER_DISTANCE:逐渐进入更陌生或跨领域的情境;
  • ADD_EXCEPTION:加入反例、边界、约束或局限。

一次重访通常选择 1 个主操作符和少量辅助操作符。不要一次叠满所有操作符,那只会堆难度。

概念记忆

螺旋依赖跨 stage 的共享记忆。平台不会替本 Skill 自动维护概念模型,所以要在当前对话中保存教师侧运行记录,至少包含:

  • concept id;
  • encounter history;
  • representation history;
  • complexity level;
  • known relations;
  • misconceptions detected;
  • examples used;
  • transfer distance;
  • mastery evidence;
  • next revisit target。

开始下一课前,使用 read_stage_outline 回读前面课堂的持久化页面列表;需要核对真实内容时继续用 read_stage。不要只相信原计划,要依据已经落进课堂的内容调整本轮“保留、增加、重组、迁移”。

每课的 Spiral Contract

每个 stage 在教师侧规划中必须有一份 contract:

  • returning_concepts:哪些旧概念回来;
  • new_concepts:哪些概念第一次出现;
  • added_complexity:比之前复杂或抽象在哪里;
  • new_relation:新增了什么概念关系;
  • representation_shift:是否更换表征;
  • transfer_target:进入哪个新情境;
  • future_hook:故意留下什么,供后续重访。

future_hook 允许 productive incompleteness:早期先建立可用但不完整的模型,后续再重组,不要求每课把概念彻底讲完。

两层设计

第一层:Spiral Architecture

先在对话中产出并请用户确认:

  1. Concept Spine:每个核心概念的初始与最终理解目标;
  2. Course Timeline:各课的主题和任务;
  3. Concept Spiral Map:每个概念何时出现、何时回来、每次增加什么;
  4. Learner Progression:学生理解应怎样逐课变化;
  5. 每课的 Spiral Contract 和概念交叉点。

使用 ask_user 让用户能调整课时数、概念出现时机、深度与交叉关系。架构未确认前不要创建课堂。

第二层:Generate Lessons

架构确认后,默认把整个已批准系列持续建到完成,不在每课之间重复停下确认,除非用户明确要求分批验收:

  1. create_folder 创建系列文件夹;
  2. 每课调用 create_stage,传入该 folderId;
  3. 每课先 set_roster,再按批准计划逐页 generate_scene;
  4. 需要补写旁白时逐页 generate_actions,修改旁白后补 generate_tts;
  5. 使用 list_scenes、read_stage_outline 和 read_stage 验收持久化结果;
  6. 开始后续课堂前更新概念记忆。

架构本身只留在教师侧规划中,不生成成学生页面。

假螺旋检查

整套系列完成后逐概念检查:

  • 同一概念多次出现但复杂度没有提升:Repeated, not spiraled;
  • 后面只增加术语,没有增加结构理解:Vocabulary inflation;
  • 每课都是新内容,旧概念不回来:Linear curriculum;
  • 所谓回顾只发生在单元最后:Review curriculum;
  • 概念回来时情境和表征完全相同:Context repetition;
  • 后面只是题目更难,不是概念更深:Difficulty escalation without conceptual deepening。

命中任一项,回到对应 Spiral Contract 修改页面 brief 或课程安排,再重新验收。

完成标准

  • 每个概念都有初始理解目标、最终理解目标和完整遭遇史;
  • 每次重访都标明主升阶操作符及新增结构;
  • 每课都有七字段 Spiral Contract;
  • 架构先确认,确认后整个系列被持续持久化到文件夹中;
  • 每课实际内容已回读,概念记忆不是只依赖原计划;
  • 学生可见文字不包含螺旋元数据、规划黑话或角色台词;
  • 每课仍满足 /stage-design 的页面、roster、持久化与音频完成标准;
  • 系列通过假螺旋检查。

与其他教学法的关系

  • /understanding-by-design 可先确定大概念、基本问题和表现性评估,本 Skill 负责让这些概念跨课升阶重访;
  • /feynman-learning 在一节课堂内推动解释反复外化和重建,本 Skill 在整个系列中安排概念反复回来;
  • /learning-to-learn 与 /social-emotional-learning 是平行目标,只有服务当前概念重访时才嵌入,不另起课程主线。

© THU-MAIC, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/agent-runtime/spiral-curriculum of THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4c67608

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Spiral Curriculum Designer next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

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Categories

Questions about Spiral Curriculum Designer

What does Spiral Curriculum Designer do?

Designs a multi-lesson course series around a few core concepts that return at higher levels of complexity, abstraction, transfer and boundary awareness, not as repeated review. Written in Chinese, this skill plans a series where a handful of core concepts return across lessons, each time at a structurally higher level in the manner of Bruner's spiral. Its first principle is that a revisit is not a review: every return must answer what is new compared with last time, in at least one of six dimensions (complexity, abstraction, relationship density, representation, transfer distance, and boundaries and counterexamples), or it is just repetition and must be rewritten.

When should I use Spiral Curriculum Designer?

Spiral Curriculum Designer fits situations like: designing a course series where core ideas return at deeper levels; organizing a unit by how understanding develops rather than by a topic list; checking a plan for revisits that are only review in disguise.

How do I install Spiral Curriculum Designer in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC --skill spiral-curriculum -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/agent-runtime/spiral-curriculum in THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC) into .claude/skills/spiral-curriculum in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Spiral Curriculum Designer in Codex?

Run `npx skills add THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC --skill spiral-curriculum -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/agent-runtime/spiral-curriculum in THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC) into .agents/skills/spiral-curriculum in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Spiral Curriculum Designer in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC --skill spiral-curriculum -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/spiral-curriculum, .gemini/skills/spiral-curriculum, .github/skills/spiral-curriculum and .opencode/skills/spiral-curriculum in your project.

What does Spiral Curriculum Designer need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Spiral Curriculum Designer is instructions for the agent only. Our summary lists: The stage-design and curriculum-planner skills it builds on.

Does Spiral Curriculum Designer access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Spiral Curriculum Designer safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Spiral Curriculum Designer use?

Spiral Curriculum Designer is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Spiral Curriculum Designer use?

About 1.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Spiral Curriculum Designer?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Spiral Curriculum Designer: Competency Unpacker (GarethManning/education-agent-skills, 840 stars), HTML Ppt Course Module (sanqiufong/slides-from-anything, 132 stars), AI Engineering Placement Quiz (rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch, 67k stars) and AnythingAtlas (Liuziyu77/AnythingAtlas, 195 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Spiral Curriculum Designer?

THU-MAIC (a GitHub organization) maintains it in THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC, which has 40,347 GitHub stars. The repository holds 25 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 11, 2026.

Source: THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.