07 September 2023
What does research suggest about developing concepts of pattern?
- Pattern and patterning activities are pervasive in the world around us and are central ideas within mathematics
- In school mathematics, children are likely to be introduced to three broad types of pattern: repeating patterns; spatial structural patterns; and growing patterns
- Early patterning activities may have a positive effect on later mathematical attainment, especially representing or duplicating a pattern using different materials from the original (a process called abstraction)
- Pattern activities have the potential to support the development of symbol and structure sense, generalisation, and the use of variables; focusing on describing what stays the same and what changes between pairs of elements in a pattern is encouraged
- Playing with visual patterns that can be decomposed into recognisable parts supports the uncovering of generalised rules
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