Our Depth Study Gets Meta with Depth & Complexity

While searching “depth” on the internet I came across a teaching tool called “Depth and Complexity.” Why did I title this Our Depth Study Gets Meta? Meta is an adjective meaning self-referencing, as in a book that references itself, or a joke about jokes. What could be more meta than learning about depth using a learning tool called “Depth and Complexity”?

“The Depth and Complexity Framework was originally developed in the mid 1990’s by Dr. Sandra Kaplan, Bette Gould, and Sheila Madsen. Its primary purpose was to push students towards thinking that is similar to professionals/experts. The creators sought to answer the question: How can educators prompt students to go beyond a basic understanding of content and elicit critical thinking at an expert level, regardless of topic/content?”—The Center for Depth and Complexity

Depth and Complexity consists of eleven modes of thinking to deepen one’s understanding of any subject. The official Depth and Complexity Framework includes using specific icons to signal which mode of thinking one is using and trigger certain thought processes. You can learn more about the history of Depth and Complexity and how teachers can use it in the classroom at The Center for Depth and Complexity.

For our study, I’m going to choose some symbols from available emojis, like Lisa Van Gemert did at Gifted Guru. I found her explanations of Depth and Complexity helpful.

The eleven aspects of Depth and Complexity are separated into eight depth and three complexity.

The eight depth modes are:

🔑Language of the Discipline: What vocabulary terms are specific to the discipline or content?
🔎Details: What are the defining features or characteristics? Find examples and evidence to support ideas.
🏁Patterns: What elements reoccur? What is the sequence or order of events? Make predictions based on past events.
❓Unanswered Questions: What information is unclear, missing, or unavailable? What evidence do you need? What has not yet been proven?
📏Rules: What structure underlies this subject? What guidelines or regulations affect it? What hierarchy or organizing principle is at work?
📈Trends: Note factors that cause events to occur (Political, Geographic, Socioeconomic, etc.). Identify patterns of change over time.
⚖️Ethics: What moral principles are involved in the subject? What controversies exist? What arguments could emerge from studying the topic?
🏛️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?

The three complexity modes are:

📚Across Disciplines: Relate the area of study to other subjects within, between, and across disciplines.
🎡Multiple Perspectives: How would others see the situation differently?
🔭Change Over Time: How are elements related in terms of the past, present and future? How and why do things change? What doesn’t change?

I like how this framework delineates ways of thinking. I recognize many of the ways I approach a topic. Naming and labeling thought processes could simplify and declutter. I think with practice, I will recognize which thought processes I’m using to explore depth, and identify how to deepen my study using other ways of thinking.

🔑Language of the Discipline : The first thing I did when I decided on depth as this year’s theme was look up the word in my Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition). I knew it would have many definitions, but I didn’t expect the labyrinth of letters and numbers and references to the word deep which also has a raging waterfall of meanings, so I separated out the meanings on a page in a way that was more clear to me.

This will be our main reference for our study this year, but we can approach 🔑Language of the Discipline in many more ways.

One of the first exercises in How to Write Poetry _{(amazon assoc. link)} by Christopher Salerno & Kelsea Habecker, is to list terminology related to something you’re passionate about, then write an Ode about the subject. I chose to list vision science terminology for depth perception. 🚓Rules: I then looked up how to write an Ode and found there are three different types of Odes: the Pindaric (Greek), the Horatian (Roman), and the Irregular.

🔑The Pindaric Ode is made up of three parts: the strophe, antistrophe, and epode. These three parts of the Ode can be thought of as beginning, middle, and end, or statement, argument and summary.
Strophe, from the Greek, means turning. It can also be a synonym for stanza. It is the opening statement of the Ode.
Antistrophe means counter-turn. It responds to the strophe and follows the same rhyme, and/or meter.
Epode means said or sung after. It summarizes or concludes the piece and follows a different rhyme and/or meter.

Here’s my attempt at an ode using terminology:

Ode to Depth Perception

My two eyes receive different information
so many cues to find my place in space
I root for both teams
in this binocular rivalry
Thank goodness for stereopsis
visual stimuli in harmony
Because its the disparity of monocular fields
that brings depth to my vision

Parallel lines converge in the distance
this convergence defines egocentric relative size
like our correspondence needs
electrons from sea to sea
Here’s a wink to binocular parallax
and a toast to interposition and overlap
Because cues like Aerial perspective
and relative color make us more blue
when further away

From this momentary fixation point
in three-dimensional space
the unknowns of how we perceive depth
are as vast as voids of space
as dark and pressured as the ocean’s abyss
as mysterious as profundity
And yet, even with one eye
the mind finds a way

Let’s just call that an irregular ode, though I did attempt to respond to my strophe about stereopsis, with an antistrophe of monocular cues, and sum up with an epode of more abstract ideas of depth perception.

Thinking back to some of my previous posts, here are some ways I’ve explored 🔑Language of the Discipline (free downloads):

(free download) In Letters: Symbols of Sound from the first day of Writober 2024, I included a downloadable Excel spreadsheet to collect and study words that came up when thinking about fear. Starting today, I’m going to use it to collect words I think of when thinking about depth.

(free download) In Fear of Parasites from Writober 2024, I included a downloadable version of the form I created for myself to explore abstract nouns. I always start by looking at the word’s definitions. Thinking of the abstract noun aspects of depth, I can start filling in this form.

How to Read Novels Like a Novelist (RNLN) Kindle Edition – the search function in the kindle reader is great for finding how and where the words depth, deep, and deepen are used in any text you’re reading.

What do you think of “Depth & Complexity” as a learning tool? Had you ever heard of it before? What do you think of the symbols I chose for the different aspects? What would you have chosen differently? I think this is going to be a lot of fun.