Patterns help students organize and make sense of their world. The study of patterns is an important component of mathematical experiences in the early years.

Some people define mathematics as the science of patterns, as patterns are found throughout all of the content areas -- in number, geometry, algebra, data, and measurement. Through exploring patterns, students investigate and extend relationships by making conjectures and forming generalizations. Students who have a variety of opportunities to reason with patterns in the early grades are forming a foundation for the future study of more abstract mathematical ideas.

Patterns can be recognized, extended, and generalized in pictures, words, and symbols. The same pattern can be found in many different forms.

Watch the video segment (duration 0:17) in the viewer box on the upper left to hear a reflection from Kathy Doolittle, an elementary school mathematics teacher.

  Student thinking regarding patterns