Add depth and complexity to your instruction with these critical thinking Depth & Complexity Icon cards! These icon cards allow students to deeply analyze various materials through 11 topics of critical thinking: Big Ideas, Rules, Trends, Patterns, Language of the Discipline, Ethics, Relationships Over Time, Details, Unanswered Questions, Across Disciplines, and Multiple Perspectives.

Simply print and have your students glue the cards in their notebooks, on anchor charts, or even laminate and use magnetic strips to place them on white boards! These are great to use for differentiation and even literature circles. Have students think, pair, share their answers, write a response, or even debate their answers!

The Icons that promote Depth are as follows:

Ethics (Morals, Right vs. Wrong, Values or Judgments, Pros and Cons)

Big Idea (Overarching Idea, Theme or Generalizations, Whole)

Details (Evidence, Description, Characteristics, Parts)

Unanswered Questions (Unknown or Unexplained, Uncertain, Dilemma)

Rules (Classify, Organize, Structure, Methods or Procedure)

Trends (Tendencies, Style, Influence)

Patterns (Repetitive, Cycle, Predict, Recurring)

Language of the Discipline (Speech, Terminology, Vocabulary)

The Icons that promote Complexity are as follows:

Changes Over Time (Past, Present, Future, Change, Connections Across Time)

Across Disciplines (Multidisciplinary, Across Different Subjects, Connections)

Multiple Perspectives (Different Points of View, Different Ways of Seeing Things, Affected by Roles)

Please note: This resource was created based on the Depth and Complexity framework, which was developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement: 1996

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