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Universal Themes

Universal Themes Include Power, Chaos, Conflict, andChange. These big ideas can tie any content together.

Introducing Universal Theme of Power
Introducing Universal Theme of Power
So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Power? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.
Gr 3-6
Introducing Order and Chaos
Introducing Order and Chaos
Introduce Order by exploring “written” vs “unwritten” rules.
Gr 1-8
Universal Themes
Universal Themes
Universal Themes are an easy way to connect lessons, units, and content areas, even going across grade levels, and into students’ personal interests.

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Used in over 1,700 districts.

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Universal Themes are my favorite part of the Depth and Complexity Framework. It’s how you can get students of any age connecting ideas across (and beyond) curriculum.

Each theme comes with introduction videos, student-facing lessons, and big idea worksheets.

Where to start?

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Learn about our pilot program

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I’m Ian Byrd. I co-wrote the book on Depth and Complexity and have been making D&C videos at Byrdseed.TV since 2012.