1. Depth and Complexity
Framing Activities
{FREEBIE}

2. Hi! I’m Lisa.
Thanks so much for downloading the Depth & Complexity Framing Activities Freebie! If you’re not familiar with Depth & Complexity, let me invite you to visit my friend Ian Byrd’s website to learn more: byrdseed.com/introducing-depth-and-complexity.
I love the Depth & Complexity Icons, and they’re a wonderful way to deepen understanding, differentiate instruction, and they belong in every teacher’s toolbox. They were developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan, and they are under copyright, so anything created with them must be free (like this!).
If you use these, I’d love for you to share what your students do with me! Tweet me or send me an at
Best Wishes!
Lisa, aka Gifted Guru

3. How to Create a Depth & Complexity Frame
Look at slides 6 -9 to review the Icons, their meanings and common prompts.
Select Slide 3 or 4 for the frame format. Slide 4 allows for diagram/drawing space. Choose your topic or guiding question/idea. Put this in the center box where it says “Topic.”
Choose four Depth & Complexity Icons {Slide 5} that will work well for analysis of this topic, question or idea. You may wish to create different versions for different students. Copy and paste one in each of the four spaces surrounding the center box {for Slide 4, use the corner boxes}.
For Slide 3, create short prompts for each of those icons and write those in the text boxes that say “Put prompt here.” No prompts are used on the Slide 4 version.
Print and go!

4. Put prompt here
Topic
Put prompt here
Put prompt here
Put prompt here

5. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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6. Note: The Depth & Complexity Icons are copyrighted by J Taylor Education. Nothing created with them can legally or ethically be offered for sale – only given away. I share this resource purely as a free resource with gratitude to J Taylor Education for their generous willingness to allow people to create free resources with their icons. Please respect this copyright. For more information, as well as some free downloads, please visit jtayloreducation.com.

7. Depth & Complexity Icon Definition Example
Language of the Discipline
What vocabulary terms are specific to the content or discipline?
Tools Jargon Icons
Acronyms
Special phrases
Terms Slang
Abbreviations
Details
What are the defining features or characteristics? Find examples and evidence to support opinions and ideas.
Parts
Factors
Attributes
Variables
Distinguishing Traits
Patterns
What elements reoccur? What is the sequence or order of events? Make predictions based on past events.
Predictability
Repetition

8. What information is unclear, missing, or unavailable?
Depth & Complexity 
Icon
Definition
Example
Unanswered Questions
What information is unclear, missing, or unavailable?
What evidence do you need? What has not yet been proven?
Missing Parts
Incomplete Ideas
Discrepancies
Unresolved issues
Ambiguity
Rules
What structure underlies this subject? What guidelines or regulations affect it? What hierarchy or ordering principle is at work?
Structure
Order
Reasons
Organization
Explanation
Classification
“Because…”
Trends
Note factors (Social Economic, Political, Geographic) that cause events to occur. Identify patterns of change over time
Influence
Forces Direction
Course of Action
Compare, Contrast
and Forecast

9. Draw conclusions based on evidence
Depth & Complexity 
Icon
Definition
Example
Ethics
What moral principles are involved in this subject? What controversies exist? What arguments could emerge from a study of this topic?
Values Morals
Pro and Con
Bias Discrimination
Prejudice
Judging
Differing Opinions
Point of View
Right and Wrong
Wisdom
Big Ideas
What theory or general statement applies to these ideas? How do these ideas relate to broad concepts such as change, systems, chaos vs. order, etc? What is the main idea?
Draw conclusions based on evidence
Make generalizations
Summarize
Theory
Principle
Main Idea

10. Across the Disciplines
Depth & Complexity
Icon
Definition
Example
Across the Disciplines
Relate the area of study to other subjects within, between, and across disciplines.
Connect
Associate
Integrate
Lind Ideas
Cross-Curricular study
Changes over Time
How are elements related in terms of the past, present, and future? How and why do things change? What doesn’t change?
Connecting points in time
Examining a time period
Compare and Contrast

11. Click here to visit my website!
Gifted Guru
Terms of Use
Welcome! I’m Lisa Van Gemert, the Gifted Guru. Thank you for your purchase and support! All of my materials are for personal and/or commercial use in digital products. Your happiness with them and the positive feedback you share is the greatest compliment you can offer me! Thank you! I appreciate your business & hope you enjoy using my resources. If you’d like another great freebie, find my 9 Ways to be Awesome at School poster download here. Please take a moment and review my terms of use copyright notice below.
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12. Click here to visit my website!
Gifted Guru
CREDIT LOVE
I created this in PowerPoint using fonts from Font Squirrel. I get my graphics from these Teachers pay Teachers designers:
If you have any questions or suggestions, please me at or click here to visit my TeachersPayTeachers store!
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