It’s quite easy to “use” Depth and Complexity and yet have low-level thinking at the same time. Here’s why it’s so important to make sure that our use of Depth and Complexity is truly changing students’ thinking.
All AboutDepth And Complexity
This framework for differentiation will give your students practical ways to think more deeply about a topic.
Depth and Complexity: ❓Unanswered Questions
By far, ❓Unanswered Questions was the prompt that I under-utilized with my own class. Now I see it in a whole new light, and boy is there immense power in prompting students to note and explore truly unanswered questions.
Depth and Complexity: 👄Language of the Discipline
Language of the Discipline is more than just slapping an icon next to an existing spelling list. It’s about digging into the words, phrases, symbols, and acronyms that an expert uses to discuss their field efficiently.
Depth and Complexity: ⚖️ Ethics and 👓 Multiple Perspectives
In this section, we introduce two more prompts of depth and complexity: ⚖️ ethics and 👓 multiple perspectives.
Depth and Complexity: 🌀Patterns and 🚦Rules
In this section, we’ll learn about two more prompts of Depth and Complexity that pair beautifully: Rules and Patterns. Because they share some similarities, I like to introduce them together and lean heavily on what makes Rules and Patterns different.
Depth and Complexity: 🏛️Big Idea and 🌻Details
When introducing the prompts of Depth and Complexity, I like to begin with Big Idea and Details. Here are some ways you could get started with these two thinking tools.
Depth and Complexity: Ethics… In Math!?
The Ethics prompt of depth and complexity fits so easily into the humanities… but what about ethics in math?!
Misconceptions About The 🏛️Big Idea
Big Idea is often the first prompt of Depth and Complexity that I introduce to students. That does not mean, however, that it is basic or less sophisticated than the other prompts.
When Too Much “Depth” Leads To Simplicity
Here’s the most common mistake I’ve seen in implementing depth and complexity: the “fill in the blanks” worksheet.
The Least Popular Depth and Complexity Prompt
Last month, I asked which prompt of Depth and Complexity you’d get rid of. The results were pretty unanimous…