Created By: Amber Mims

Pictures Created By: J Taylor Education, 2010

Information Provided By: J Taylor Education, 2010 and Sandra Kaplan

Dimensions of Depth & Complexity

Language of the Discipline

Details

Patterns

Rules

Trends

Unanswered Questions

Ethics

Big Idea

Over Time

Multiple Perspectives

Across Disciplines

Details

Task Starters

What details define ________________?

Which details are more important than others and what is your evidence of this?

What distinguishes this from other things?

What are its attributes?

What features characterize this?

Details Are: clues, facts, features, data, ideas, traits, items, parts, particulars, specifics, elemtents, factors, attributes

Related Thinking Skills

-describe (the details)

-prioritize (the most important)

-note ambiguity (among the details)

-categorize/classify

-identify relationships

-determine relevance

-sequence the details

-select details to determine bias or absence of bias

Question Cards:

What distinguishes _________ from ___________?

What are the part-to-whole relationships in _________?

What factors contributed to ________?

What information can be added to what we already know about ________________?

What variables would change ____________?

Patterns

Task Starters

Describe the patterns you find.

How do you evaluate a pattern’s importance to what you are studying?

How does one pattern compare to another?

Identify the primary patterns and the secondary patterns.

How are patterns and details related?

Patterns Are: predictive, able to be replicated, cycles, motifs, repetitive, made up of details, person-made and natural designs, recurring elements

Related Thinking Skills

-describe

-define cause and effect

-prioritize

-categorize/ classify

-identify relationships (among patterns)

-determine relevance

-sequence (the pattern parts)

-judge with criteria (the importance of a pattern)

Question Cards:

What pattern of behavior did ___________ have?

What elements, events, or ideas are repeated in _________?

Using this pattern, what can you predict about ___________?

What are the recurring events in _________________?

Rules

Task Starters

Describe the rules.

Identify the implicit and explicit rules.

How do you evaluate rules’ efficiency and details?

Compare structural rules and procedural rules.

Rules Are: standards, related to structure, authoritative directions for conduct or procedures, usual courses of action or behavior, statements of truth (all or most of the time), methods, organizational elements

Related Thinking Skills

-describe

-identify relationships

-categorize/classify

-prioritize

-differentiate fact from opinion and fact from fantasy and conjecture

-determine relevance

-judge with criteria (the importance of a set of rules)

Trends

Task Starters

Describe the trends.

Identify the causes and results of a trend.

How do you evaluate a trend’s importance to what you are studying?

How are trends related to patterns?

How (and when) does a fast become a trend?

Trends Are: general directions, tendencies, current styles, drifts, influences, changes over time

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe

-compare and contrast

-identify relationships (among trends)

-categorize/classify

-prioritize (the most important rules)

-determine relevance

-judge with criteria (the importance of a trend)

-prove with evidence (the influence of a trend)

Unanswered Questions

Task Starters

Describe the unknown details or stimuli for the event.

Identify the origins of an unanswered question.

How do you determine if, in fact, a question is unanswered?

Which areas of science or human behavior can you connect with unanswered questions?

An Unanswered Question Is: a puzzle, a conundrum, unsolved, an unknown, something unexplained, a dilemma, doubtful or uncertain

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe/state (an unanswered question)

-note ambiguity

-distinguish fact from fiction and opinion

-formulate questions

-problem-solving

-identify missing information

-test assumptions

-prove with evidence (the importance or validity of an unanswered question)

Ethics

Task Starters

Describe the ethical issues you find.

How did or does an ethical issue affect the information you are studying?

Why are there different ethical issues in different times and places?

What are some universal ethics or values?

How do ethics get developed?

How does a culture teach or transmit its ethics?

Ethics Are (Or Are Found In): controversies, dilemmas, biases, prejudices, decision-making, principles of “right” behavior, a set or theory of moral values, philosophies/metaphysics, professional rules or standards, value-laden ideas

Related Thinking Skills:

-determine bias

-prioritize (the most important ethical issues)

-identify relationships (among the ethical issues)

-determine relevance

-judge with criteria (the ethical issue)

-distinguish fact from opinion or fantasy

-test assumptions

Big Idea

Task Starters

List the evidence needed to support a big idea.

How do you evaluate a big idea’s importance to what you are studying?

How does working with big ideas help you learn new knowledge?

How are patterns, trends, and rules related to big ideas?

Big Ideas Are: generalizations, related to many instances, developed from many facts, overarching, related to global or universal themes, principles/laws/theories

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe (the big idea)

-infer a big idea from supporting evidence/information

-categorize/classify big ideas

-identify relationships (among big ideas)

-determine relevance

-judge with criteria (the importance or a big idea)

Language of the Discipline

Task Starters

What words are specific to the work in this discipline?

What tools are used by the experts in this discipline?

What are the origins of new terms in this discipline?

LOTD Refers To: terminology, nomenclature, lexicon, tools of discipline, combinations and patterns of terms, jargon/idiom, signs and symbols, figures of speech, eponyms and neologisms of the discipline

Related Thinking Skills:

-identify/list/define the terms

-prioritize (the most important terms)

-identify relationships (among the terms)

-categorize the terms or tools

-judge with criteria (the specificity of the terms)

-distinguish appropriateness of usage of the terminology

determine relevance

Over Time

Task Starters

Describe the past, present and possible future related to this issue or topic.

Identify a time that this issue or topic was different.

How does knowing things over time affect what we learn?

How is history being made every day? How does this help us predict the future?

Over Time Means: looking at past, present, future; applying something historic to present knowledge; predicting something based on present knowledge; applying from the past to the present; noting change

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe the topic over time

-judge with criteria

-identify relationships of a topic and different time periods

-determine relevance of knowing this topic over time

-differentiate fact from opinion (over time)

Multiple (Different) Perspectives

Task Starters

Describe the multiple perspectives on an issue or topic.

Identify a different point of view and explain it.

How does point of view affect what we learn?

What perspectives doe experts have?

When is your perspective different from others? Why?

MP Are: different points of view; ways of seeing and reporting things; often dependent on time and place; different slants; affected by roles and responsibilities

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe (the perspectives)

-prioritize (the most important perspectives)

-identify relationships (among perspectives)

-determine relevance of various points of view

-judge with criteria (the various points of view)

Across Disciplines

Task Starters

Describe a topic’s place in more than one discipline or subject area.

Sort information you are studying into several disciplines.

How is “across disciplines” related to “multiple perspectives”?

What is concilience (and who is E.O. Wilson)?

AD Means: multidisciplinary; interdisciplinary; connections among disciplines; touching on many subjects at once

Related Thinking Skills:

-describe the topic in terms of different disciplines

-prioritize various subject areas’ importance to the topic

-identify relationships (among information from different disciplines)

-judge with criteria (the various points of view)

-compare and contrast information (from various disciplines)