Does a Learning Trajectory Facilitate Learning to Recognize the Core Unit of a Repeating Pattern?

• In Event: Researching Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood

Abstract

A RCT (n=48) compared two patterning interventions that involved the same activities but only one ordered them based a hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) and a business-as-usual (BAU) control. Both patterning interventions were significantly and substantively successful in promoting transfer. Although participants in both patterning interventions significantly and substantially outperformed those in the BAU condition, they did not differ from each other. Moreover, qualitative analyses revealed that translating patterns into letters was much easier than doing so into concrete formats. Counting the number of core units and pointing out the core in a repeating pattern also proved challenging.

Authors

• Nursel Yilmaz, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University

• Arthur J. Baroody, University of Denver and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Douglas H. Clements, University of Denver

• Julie Sarama, University of Denver

• Volkan Sahin, Middle East Technical University