Same Rule, Different Stuff

To copy a pattern using different materials, children need to recognize the pattern’s repeating unit. For example, if you have rock, stick, rock, stick, you can think about the pattern as something, then something else, then the first thing again. Then take other materials, like colored bears, and transfer the pattern by putting red bear, blue bear, red bear, blue bear. The mathematical term for this is “transfer,” because it focuses on transferring the structure of a pattern, not copying the pattern exactly.