Introducing Depth and Complexity

I read a query on a FB group for gifted education. They were asking how do you introduce Depth and Complexity. In the beginning? In a certain order?

So I wanted to share how I do it. Remember I work with little ones-they have never heard of these concepts before.  I start with Multiple Perspectives. I read:

I show the kids how if I stand up on the table my perspective changes. I have them stand in their chairs and look around. What is different? This story is told from the perspective of a school on the first day. How does our school feel?

The next one I introduce is Ethics. Ethics is my favorite concept from D&C. I ask them questions-is it ever ok to steal? (this is going to be an interesting conversation this year when "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is framed on our wall.)  Anyway is it ever ok to steal? They always say no. What if your baby is starving? (the Jean Valjean argument) What if there's a hurricane and my neighbor's not home but I know he has batteries? It is important to me that the students learn ethics are not black and white. Right and wrong is not always black and white. So every day as part of our ELA warmup I give them a question to discuss.

Some examples:

It is ever right to lie?

How what is the difference between fair and equal?

Should teachers treat all students the same?

Should kids treat all teachers the same?

Should girls be soldiers?

Should we always share? (Giving Tree is a great story for this idea).

Is it ok to break a rule?

The students discuss and learn how to make an argument. I give them sentence stems to help guide them "I agree with that because..."  or "I do not agree with that because". By the end of the year they are expert debaters. :) (the parents love that).

Next I introduce Rules. What is always true about something? What is always true about a car? What is always true about our school? What is always true about teachers? The car is my favorite discussion they say "all cars have tires" and I show them a picture of a car on cinder blocks. All cars have a roof-I show them a picture of a convertible. It's hard to set "rules" for things because there are often exceptions.

Unanswered Questions-my students come to me not knowing how to ask good questions. As part of our daily warm up for ELA I show them a picture. What questions can you ask? 

What is going to happen next? Are they on the same team? How do we know?

You can ask math questions as well:

    

How many cars? Are there more white cars or red? What is the temperature?

The key here is not answering the questions, but coming up with questions to ask.

That is where I start. Then we focus on these concepts for a while before introducing the others.