Copying and Comparing Repeating Patterns: Children’s Strategies and Descriptions

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.