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Depth and Complexity Icons: Everything You Need to Know!

This is a preview of a related Byrdseed.TV video.


The Depth and Complexity icons are eleven tools that act as lenses, prompting students to look at a topic in a new way. They will help you to take your students deeper into grade-level material rather than moving them onto a new topic.

Sound too good to be true? Read on!

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But, hey, if this post is way too long you can take it all in more slowly through my Depth and Complexity Mailer. You’ll get an email every week introducing a couple of prompts. It’s free!


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Table of Contents

  • The Back Story
  • Quick Example
  • Why the Icons?
  • The Basics
  • The Number One Problem

The Back Story

The overarching goal of Depth and Complexity is to move students towards expert knowledge of content. Bette Gould and Sandra Kaplan (yes, two people developed this framework!) looked to understand how an expert understands their field differently from a layperson. Through interviews, they saw that these experts knew things like repeating patterns, required rules, ethical dilemmas, changes over time, and essential vocabulary within their field.

They identified eleven of these traits and assigned a name and a symbol to each. The idea is that students can use these same ways of thinking to move closer to an expert’s level of understanding.

A Quick Example

Rather than just asking general questions about content, the Depth and Complexity prompts help you to quickly increase the level of content knowledge required in a question.

A task like “Compare and contrast Lincoln and Washington” is ok, but too broad. It’s unlikely to push advanced students. They can too easily settle into the obvious and surface-level (both are humans, both are men, one has brown hair, one has grey hair).

Instead, ask students to “Compare and contrast the βš–οΈ ethical dilemmas Lincoln and Washington faced” and suddenly there’s room for a deeper understanding.
Or ask “Compare and contrast the 🚦 rules that Lincoln and Washington created as presidents.”

That’s a big difference in expectation, right?

About Those Icons

Each tool is represented by an icon that gives students a visual shortcut to expert thinking. The tools’ icons especially benefit younger students or those learning English. They unlock access to higher levels of thinking than those students’ vocabulary would otherwise support. But their use should not be limited to just those students.

Even as a grown man, I use the graphical icons when I take notes. If I spot an interesting pattern, I’ll draw a πŸŒ€ patterns icon to call it out. When I see a student draw an icon on their work, I know that they are calling out a certain way of thinking.

A final note about the graphical icons: beware relying on pretty clip art or professionally designed images. It sets the bar too high. Instead, draw the icons by hand as you teach and encourage students to do the same. The Depth and Complexity prompts are ultimately students’ tools and students should use their tools whether or not they have access to specific clip art.

Sidenote: Read about why I now advocate for using emoji for depth and complexity icons.

The Basics

Here are the eleven prompts of Depth and Complexity along with a teeny explanation and a link to full articles.

Icon Name Description
πŸ›οΈ Big Idea An overarching idea about a topic.
🌻 Essential Details The most important specifics about a topic.
πŸ‘„ Language of the Discipline The vocabulary an expert would use to discuss their field.
🚦 Rules The laws, hierarchies, norms, etc within a topic. Breaking a rule leads to a consequence.
πŸŒ€ Patterns Expected repetition within a field. These can break without necessarily creating a problem.
βš–οΈ Ethics The problems, ambiguities, or dilemmas of a topic.
⏳ Change Over Time How has a topic changed over long periods of time?
πŸ‘“ Multiple Perspectives How do different people view this topic?
❓ Unanswered Questions Perhaps the most under-used of the prompts. It’s so much more than “What questions do you have?” Instead, push students towards what we don’t yet know about this topic? Or whatcan’t we know? Consider questions that are truly unanswered to humankind.
πŸ“š Across Disciplines How does this topic represent an intersection of other fields? How do language arts andmath appear in a topic?
πŸ“ˆ Trends How a topic is currently changing and what forces are causing those changes? Trends is the prompt I’d most like to get rid of.

So that’s the eleven prompts of depth and complexity. Yeah, there are a lot! But no need to use them all at first. Get comfy with like four. AND you’ll be surprised how quickly you start to pick them up.

Want to get a series of emails explaining each Depth and Complexity prompt? Sign up for free here!

The Number One Problem

Without a doubt, the biggest problem people make with Depth and Complexity is: pairing an icon with a low level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Look at these three tasks and think about what the level of thinking that each requires:

  • Identify the rules in this math problem.
  • List the important details about George Washington.
  • What are the patterns in the solar system?

Do you see it? ☝️ Every one of those questions requires merely a list as an answer. Even though I might be taking the content deeper, I’m still asking super low-level questions. I’m at the bottom of Bloom’s – despite using depth and complexity.

And, now that I’m aware of it, I see it everywhere. Just do a search for “depth and complexity worksheets” and spot all of the low-level questions out there. It’s almost impossible to find any examples where the icons paired with high levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

So please make sure to pair depth and complexity with high levels of thinking:

  • Compare/Contrast: How is Poe’s πŸ‘„ language different from Lewis Carrol’s?
  • Evaluate: Which author most effectively uses πŸ‘„ language to create their tone?
  • Synthesize: What would happen to the tone if we used some of Carrol’s πŸ‘„language in The Raven.

See how we can go beyond “list the vocabulary words” and really get kids thinking?

Depth and Complexity Resources

Ok! Let’s take a break here and I’ll point you to a few Depth and Complexity resources that I’ve had a hand in creating:

  • βœ‰οΈ Yes, I’ve got the free Depth and Complexity emails which are very free and very good.
  • πŸ“ I made this free Depth and Complexity PDF
  • πŸ“Ό I have videos for each prompt for students as well as for teachers over at Byrdseed.TV.

With all of these resources, you’ll find depth and complexity paired with high-level thinking.

Now, if you’d like to continue on, I have an article about how to introduce depth and complexity to your students!

Depth and Complexity icons

Done For You!

There's actually a lesson at Byrdseed.TV that's specifically about this article. Check it out

Read On!

  • Depth or Complexity Alone Isn’t Deep Enough
    You can use the prompts of depth and complexity yet still ask very shallow questions. Here's how to avoid this common pitfall…
  • Depth, Complexity, and Graphic Organizers
    Layer the prompts of Depth and Complexity onto any graphic organizer to increase the level of thinking required of your students.
  • Emoji as Digital Depth and Complexity Icons
    While the official depth and complexity icons look great, they lead to all kinds of problems in the digital world and also take ownership away from students. Emoji are an elegant solution to both problems.

πŸ“‚ Filed under Depth and Complexity.

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