By Daniel Brillhart
Getting students to think deeply about a concept or subject can be a seemingly daunting task, even as we know that we need critical thinking abilities to identify and solve the problems facing our society and world. However, there is a tool that is readily available that not only helps students build those thinking skills but to easily access them. This tool is the Depth and Complexity Framework. This framework is part of our training for teachers who deliver gifted services.
The Depth and Complexity Framework was created in the 1990s by Dr. Sandra Kaplan, Bette Gould, and Sheila Madsen when they examined AP tests and other higher order tests to identify the thinking skills students needed in order to be successful when taking those tests. From this research came the Depth and Complexity Framework. Most people know this framework through the “pictures” or icons that are associated with each type of thinking.
Each icon represents a specific way of thinking, such as the Details icon:
This icon represents the ability to distinguish between those facts that are relevant to the subject or concept and those that are irrelevant. It also represents the process of identifying the core or essential attributes of the subject or concept.
Teaching students the specific thinking skills each icon represents allows the students to develop a meta-cognitive map that grants them to easy access these thinking skills outside of a specific area of study, and allows them to apply those thinking skills to all disciplines.
One quick note. The Depth and Complexity Framework has generally only been associated with gifted and talented education, but it is designed to meet the needs of all students.
Teachers who use the Depth and Complexity Framework, of which the icons are only one part, have a built in means to differentiate the curriculum in order to better meet the needs of a diverse set of students. Imagine giving an assignment about food chains or webs in an elementary class. Using the icons, the teacher can easily differentiate the study of food chains or webs.
For one group of students, the teacher has them use the Details icon to identify the key elements of a food chain or web. For another, the teacher assigns the Over Time icon so that the students look at how food chains or webs transfer energy or are affected by outside forces over time. For a third group, the teacher assigns the Ethics icon for students who are interested in our belief systems of how we use the physical world around us and how we affect it both positively and negatively.
Same concept or subject, different thinking skills associated with it.
The Depth and Complexity Framework is universal in nature. It applies to all subjects and grade levels, and focuses not on specific skills (such as inferences or writing a good introduction to a paper), but rather on the thinking skills behind all subjects.