Abstract
This study investigates preschool teachers’ implementations and children’s engagement with copying repeating patterns, as well as their descriptions when comparing patterns. Children were presented with an AB-structured pattern in the form of a strand of beads and were asked to construct a similar strand of beads but using colors different from that of the model pattern. They were then asked to compare their strand with the one presented to them. This was repeated with an AAB-structured pattern. Results showed that when copying the AB pattern, children used two different strategies. When copying the AAB-structured pattern, children used a third strategy, which might indicate an intermediate level of structure recognition. Interestingly, more children showed recognition of structure when describing AAB patterns than when describing AB patterns.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
English, L. D. & Warren, E. A. (1998). Introducing the variable through pattern exploration. Mathematics Teacher, 91(2), 166–170.
Fox, J. (2005). Child-initiated mathematical patterning in the pre-compulsory years. In H. L. Chick & J. L. Vincent (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 313–320). Melbourne: PME.
Greenes, C., Ginsburg, H. P., & Balfanz, R. (2004). Big math for little kids. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 159–166.
Israel National Mathematics Preschool Curriculum (INMPC) (2008). Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://meyda.education.gov.il/files/Tochniyot_Limudim/KdamYesodi/Math1.pdf
Klein, A., & Starkey, P. (2004). Fostering preschool children’s mathematical knowledge: Findings from the Berkley math readiness program. In D. Clements & J. Sarama (Eds.), Engaging young children in mathematics (pp. 343–360). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Kontra, C., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Beilock, S. L. (2012). Embodied learning across the life span. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4(4), 731–739.
Papic, M., Mulligan, J., & Mitchelmore, M. (2011). Assessing the development of preschoolers’ mathematical patterning. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 42(3), 237–269.
Rittle-Johnson, B., Fyfe, E. R., McLean, L. E., & McEldoon, K. L. (2013). Emerging understanding of patterning in 4-year-olds. Journal of Cognition and Development, 14(3), 376–396.
Sarama, J., & Clements, D. (2009). Early childhood mathematics education research: Learning trajectories for young children. London: Routledge.
Tirosh, D., Tsamir, P., Barkai, R., & Levenson, E. (2017). Preschool teachers’ variations when implementing a patterning task. In T. Dooley & G. Gueduet (Eds.), Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME 10) (pp. 1917–1924). Dublin: DCU Institute of Education and ERME.
Tirosh, D., Tsamir, P., Barkai, R., & Levenson, E. (2018). Using children’s patterning tasks for professional development for preschool teachers. In C. Benz, H. Gasteiger, A. S. Steinweg, P. Schöner, H. Vollmuth, & J. Zöllner (Eds.), Mathematics education in the early years: Results from the POEM3 conference, 2016 (pp. 47–68). New York: Springer.
Tsamir, P., Tirosh, D., Levenson, E., Barkai, R., & Tabach, M. (2017). Repeating patterns in kindergarten: Children’s enactments from two activities. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 96(1), 83–99.
Warren, E. (2005). Patterns supporting the development of early algebraic thinking. In P. Clarkson, A. Downton, D. Gronn, M. Horne, A. McDonough, R. Pierce, & A. Roche (Eds.), Building connections: Research, theory and practice (Proceedings of the 28th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Melbourne) (pp. 759–766). Sydney: MERGA.
Zazkis, R., & Liljedahl, P. (2002). Generalization of patterns: The tension between algebraic thinking and algebraic notation. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 49(3), 379–402.
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1270/14).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tsamir, P., Tirosh, D., Barkai, R., Levenson, E. (2020). Copying and Comparing Repeating Patterns: Children’s Strategies and Descriptions. In: Carlsen, M., Erfjord, I., Hundeland, P.S. (eds) Mathematics Education in the Early Years. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34776-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34776-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34775-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34776-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)