Knowing what kinds of patterns are easy for children to recognize early in their kindergarten year, and what kinds are difficult, can be a useful guide for patterning instruction. Hence, the ability of children to recognize complex patterns early in their kindergarten year was assessed in two experiments. One experiment showed that the children…

This project tested the effects of adding instruction of trios of children in patterning, mathematics, early literacy, or social studies to ongoing instruction in kindergartens. Children were randomly assigned to trios which were randomly assigned to one of four kinds of instruction. A quarter of the trios received patterning instruction with a…

Research Findings: In each of 16 public school classrooms serving multiethnic low-income neighborhoods, 2 first graders were assigned to be taught patterning, 2 to be taught reading, 2 to be taught mathematics, and 2 to be taught social studies for 15-min sessions 3 days per week for 6 months. Assignment within each classroom was randomized. The…

In early elementary school in most English-speaking countries children are taught "patterning," which involves learning repetitive patterns of colors or shapes (e.g., red, blue, green, red, blue, green). The present study was designed to test the effectiveness of patterning instruction when compared to equal amounts of instruction in…

The authors' purpose was to study the efficacy of patterning instruction in improving the reading and mathematics proficiency of first grade children. Patterning instruction was compared to equal time and effort spent on instruction on reading or mathematics or social studies, which are control conditions in this experiment. The question for…