Building Sequences of Questions with Depth and Complexity

Want to use Depth and Complexity really well? I’ll email you a three-part series.

A key to using Depth and Complexity well is to notice that there is a natural movement from prompt to prompt.

When I asked students to “identify the 🌻 details” and then stopped, I was missing a lot of power.

Details naturally move students towards other prompts of Depth and Complexity.

• Details can form 🌀 patterns
• Details can support 🏛️ big ideas
• Details clue us into a ⏳ change over time

If we are noticing details, they should always point us towards another prompt of Depth and Complexity.

Ask Sequences of Questions

So, I always want to write sequences of questions.

I wouldn’t ask students to “find the most important Details of George Washington’s life” and then stop. We need to build a sequence!

1. Find 10 to 15 important Details of George Washington’s life.
2. Look for Patterns within those Details. Form several categories of Details.
3. Using your categories as a guide, write a 🏛️ Motto for Washington’s life.
4. Which Details in Washington’s life do you think go against this Motto?

We climb Bloom’s but also from Details to Patterns to a Big Idea and then back to Details.

Reverse It!

You can often reverse a movement from one prompt of Depth and Complexity to another, like this:

• Name a Problem that lead to a new Rule. (⚖️ -> 🚦)
• Explain how the new Rule then lead to new Problems? (🚦 to ⚖️)

Fun, right?

So, as you’re considering which prompts of depth and complexity to incorporate in a task, try to build a sequence. Think about how the prompts can build on each other to take students’ thinking to a deeper level.