The Depth and Complexity Framework was developed by Sandra Kaplan. Kaplan is a clinical professor in learning and instruction at USC’s Rossier School of Education. She created the framework through her research on knowledge types which helped distinguish experts in a particular field of study from others with only a surface knowledge.
"Deep understanding" is knowing the language, details, patterns, rules, trends, unanswered questions, ethics and big ideas which make up a topic’s content, whereas "complex understanding" is gained by examining the change in the topic over time, different perspectives of the topic, and how it connects to others disciplines.
The icons were created as a tool to quickly determine the types of thinking needed to gain expert level knowledge.
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