tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/prekindergarten-16947/articlesprekindergarten – The Conversation2021-09-22T18:57:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655192021-09-22T18:57:35Z2021-09-22T18:57:35ZRich kids and poor kids face different rules when it comes to bringing personal items to school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421143/original/file-20210914-15-15d4dse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C24%2C8058%2C5462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some preschoolers are encouraged to bring in their favorite toy or stuffed animal, while others risk having it confiscated.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teddy-bear-hugs-with-happy-3-years-girl-royalty-free-image/1178841461">Layland Masuda/Moment Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Poor preschoolers get fewer chances than wealthier children to bring their prized personal possessions to school. That’s what I found in my <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socpro/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/socpro/spab019/6324468">two-year comparative ethnographic study</a> of two preschools in Madison, Wisconsin. One of the preschools primarily serves middle-class white children and the other primarily serves poor children of color.</p>
<p>In the preschool that served mostly poor kids, the teachers made a rule that kids could not bring toys, games, stuffed animals or other personal items to school. The stakes felt too high to these teachers. Some students’ families were recently evicted and had few toys. Other students’ families did buy them toys but at great financial cost, and families didn’t want these items broken. Teachers also worried about toys being stolen. The items that I observed children try to bring in ranged from expensive action figures to random board game pieces to sparkly ponytail holders. </p>
<p>I then observed an affluent school and found that teachers actually encouraged children to bring their personal items to school. The teachers hosted a weekly show and tell. Kids could bring toys, objects from nature or anything else to show and tell. Teachers also encouraged kids to bring books to read with their peers and stuffed animals to cuddle at nap time any day of the week. Because these teachers knew their students’ families were financially well-off, they made classroom rules that allowed children to celebrate their personal property.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>This gulf in how kids experience classroom rules about property matters for three reasons. </p>
<p>First, I observed that when children brought personal stuff to school, they used the items to connect with friends or just to hold and enjoy by themselves throughout the day. This was true whether they were encouraged to bring the items in or they successfully sneaked them in.</p>
<p>Bringing special personal objects to school provided the kids with a form of what sociologists call <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023116633712">substantive dignity</a> – the sense that one belongs in a wider community but is still respected as a unique individual. My research suggests that <a href="https://www.urban.org/features/segregated-start">preschool segregation</a> creates pressures for teachers of poor children to forbid personal property at school, closing off a pathway to substantive dignity for these children.</p>
<p>Second, the disparity in children’s degree of control over property connects to other researchers’ findings that affluent children have more control over their experience within schools. From <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=50">school uniform rules</a> to how much of their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427177">teacher’s help</a> they get when working on assignments, affluent children grow up expecting more special attention from authority figures. They are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427177">more comfortable asking for accommodations</a>, and this matters in college and as they <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0038040715614913">transition to adulthood</a>. In contrast, poor and working-class children experience more encouragement to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414546931">defer to the rules of an institution</a>. My research suggests that affluent children’s comfortable access to personal property in preschool is an additional mechanism by which they come to feel entitled to individualized attention in workplaces and other institutions.</p>
<p>Third, one consequence of the no-personal-items rule at the poor preschool was that a handful of students – all boys of color – sneaked toys in anyway. Sometimes these children were caught and were disciplined by having their items taken and being sent to the quiet area. As a result, property rules contributed to differences in discipline on race and gender lines. This aligns with other scholars’ findings that boys of color <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spaa011">experience more punishment</a> as early as preschool, and this pattern continues through <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Discipline_Disparities_Overview.pdf">K-12 schooling</a>. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>My research observed broad, social experiences that children had over time. However, social scientists will need to do more research to determine how teachers’ rules about controlling children’s personal property use differ across a wider range of preschools. Another question is how teachers manage kids’ access to personal items in mixed-income preschools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey Stockstill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When students are allowed to bring personal items for show and tell, it can build their senses of self-worth, belonging and control. But poor kids often don’t get that opportunity.Casey Stockstill, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425882015-06-19T10:18:16Z2015-06-19T10:18:16Z‘Teaching artists’: creative ways to teach English to immigrant kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83468/original/image-20150601-15234-1j39n89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freese Elementary first graders starting to paint a giant puppet with teaching artist Felix Diaz.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bringing professional actors and dancers into the classroom may seem an unusual strategy for boosting the speaking skills of children who speak a language other than English at home. Yet, these creative drama and movement activities can help children struggling to improve their fluency in the English language. </p>
<p>English language learners face a <a href="http://edsource.org/2015/mexican-american-children-lag-behind-white-peers-by-age-2-study-finds/77678#.VYDxrM7u78s">daunting challenge</a> in today’s classrooms, which have an increased focus on written work. To improve their English language skills, these children need <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08ell.h29.html">frequent opportunities</a> to engage in verbal interactions. Children who do not become proficient in reading by the end of third grade are at an <a href="http://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-why-reading-by-the-end-of-third-grade-matters/">increased risk</a> of dropping out of school. </p>
<p>Schools in San Diego, California, are successfully leading the way in using creative ways to teach English. </p>
<p>Educators and teaching artists have come together in San Diego schools to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.1192/abstract">demonstrate</a> how theatre games and creative movement activities in early grades can help children improve their English language fluency. </p>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>Having begun my career as an educator in Europe, I was attracted by the idea of an arts-rich curriculum that motivated children through imaginative engagement. </p>
<p>As the director of the Center for Learning in the Arts and Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, I approached the Visual and Performing Arts Department of the <a href="http://www.sandi.net/site/default.aspx?PageID=1">San Diego Unified School District</a> about setting up a pilot project in 15 San Diego elementary schools. </p>
<p>In 2007, our proposal was funded by the <a href="http://www.cpec.ca.gov/">California Postsecondary Education Commission. </a></p>
<p>Over a period of several months, the San Diego Visual and Performing Arts Department recruited and trained the professional actors and dancers who would serve as “teaching artists.” </p>
<p>The idea of recruiting teaching artists was to have a group of professionals trained in dance and drama, who could visit as many as five classrooms each day and encourage English learners to use language as a tool of <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/kindergarten/theater-kindergarten/kindergarten-theater-lesson1/">communication</a> even during the first lessons. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two teachers at Central Elementary lead a theatre warm-up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Classroom teachers co-taught with a teaching artist for 50 minutes each week for 28 weeks (14 weeks of drama, 14 weeks of dance). Teachers practiced with their pupils on the days between visits. Videos of lessons were made available online, so that teachers could remind themselves of details. </p>
<h2>How it worked</h2>
<p>In a way, this program was not all that new. These lessons were only an enhanced version of the theatre and dance curriculum that was available to all San Diego elementary schools before testing and budget pressures caused the school district to reduce its offerings. </p>
<p>Budget cuts over the years have forced the elimination of arts activities in kindergarten to second grade in many school districts nationwide. A <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011078.pdf">study</a> by the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/">National Center for Education Statistics</a> found that in 2009–2010, only 4% of US elementary schools offered instruction that was designated as drama or theatre; just 3% offered dance. </p>
<p>When the teaching artists arrived in San Diego classrooms, children welcomed them enthusiastically and eagerly joined in. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/first-grade/theater-first-grade/grade-1-theater-lesson-1/">lessons</a> generally started with the class standing in a circle, responding through words and physical movements to directions given by the teaching artist. Instead of memorizing vocabulary and studying grammar, children learned through active participation. </p>
<p>And English learners who were unsure of the meaning of verbal instructions could check their understanding by watching the teaching artist and other students. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.90/abstract">Rigorous evaluation</a> has shown that the program has helped children, especially those with the most limited English speaking skills.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kindergartners at Balboa Elementary practice a dance activity with their teacher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Teacher interviews affirmed that the vocabulary and communication skills of all children were enhanced by the teaching artist visits. </p>
<p>The most striking improvement was in the speaking skills of the English learners. </p>
<h2>Limited learning in classrooms</h2>
<p>Today’s classrooms face many challenges.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96">10% of the student</a> population in the US now comes from non-English speaking homes. In California, children whose home language is not English <a href="http://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/ELStats0308.pdf">make up over 20%</a> of the public school enrollment.</p>
<p>The passage of [Proposition 227](http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_227,<em>the</em>%22English_in_Public_Schools%22_Initiative_(1998) in 1998 has made the situation particularly challenging for non-English speaking children. Proposition 227 requires California public schools to teach even limited English-proficient students in classes that are taught nearly all in English. </p>
<p>In today’s classrooms, children’s learning is limited by several factors.</p>
<p>Contemporary kindergarten classrooms <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-happened-kindergarten">resemble</a> the first grade classes of a generation ago. First graders are tackling assignments that were formerly taught in second grade. </p>
<p>Moreover, the demands of a highly structured curriculum and rising class sizes leave limited opportunities for rich verbal interactions between the teacher and the pupil. Chances for <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tg4k5xx">individualized feedback</a> are also often limited. </p>
<p>This is reflected in the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a> data: only 11 of the 50 states are meeting adequate yearly progress targets for limited English-proficient students under NCLB. At the same time, the number of school-age kids who speak English as a second language is continuing to grow. </p>
<h2>What English learners need</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, preparation programs for elementary teachers currently dedicate little time to methods for teaching oral language skills. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bilingualeducation.org/pdfs/PROP2272.pdf">Research</a> has demonstrated that oral language proficiency in the primary grades is critical to the literacy development of children in general, but especially of English learners.</p>
<p>Drama and dance activities in which nonverbal communication is utilized in combination with verbal interactions can offer an effective substitute for one-on-one interactions with the classroom teacher. </p>
<p>Given that the weekly teaching artist visits constitute a relatively low-cost intervention, such programs may provide a means of affordably addressing an urgent problem.</p>
<p>The San Diego project did not just help English learners; it provided [benefits](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1 ) for English-speaking students as well through increased engagement, attendance and exposure to the arts.</p>
<p>But clearly, the need is greater for English learners, for whom the arts can provide a bridge to understanding the language of the classroom. </p>
<p><em>Next: How should kids learn English: through Old MacDonald’s farm or Ali Baba’s farm?</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liane Brouillette received funding for this research from the California Department of Education and the United States Department of Education.</span></em></p>Want kids to improve fluency in English language? Try dance and drama as teaching tools.Liane Brouillette, Associate Professor of Education, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/394172015-05-15T10:16:22Z2015-05-15T10:16:22ZDon’t know how to get your kid to do math? Try patterns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81730/original/image-20150514-28615-ktlyr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Helping kids learn patterns can develop math skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/poughkeepsiedayschool/16132844393/in/photolist-qzB3zx-rwhpfr-48AhM5-nf2i45-gWEbC8-gWFnAM-8pCzLP-7zbWw7-6gxQ6a-8UFDRT-8UFE6n-8UJHfs-8UFE2g-ouLuzi-dUbPgA-fhofnR-gWEbVc-gWEc62-gWEctL-fp3eVC-dmsT3Z-7YJDR7-5vkXCZ-dmsuf1-eYvxcZ-4schxv-gWE9P8-dmt27d-gWEsBw-dmsGrm-qQZ4ek-dmsVJD-cxraVu-cxkAK1-pUvjJx-fkWUSy-4czcHY-rJLT3m-dmsQnN-7tmR89-4ddm3k-aAbFLh-fkphVs-gWEsMS-gWEbv5-8DvqfP-o9SsYW-fkabvB-gWE9zR-oWNXFs">Poughkeepsie Day School</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents and teachers know that reading to their children in preschool and kindergarten is important. But how can parents and teachers support young children’s mathematics knowledge?</p>
<p>One often overlooked activity is patterning, or thinking about patterns. Patterns are predictable sequences, such as stripes (for example, a yellow-green striped shirt) and rhythms (for example, da-de-dum). Young children like to make patterns when they draw and play.</p>
<p>Patterning encourages children to look for regularity and rules – a critical component of mathematical reasoning. For example, in the color pattern red-blue-blue-red-blue-blue, the rule is the part that repeats over and over (red-blue-blue in this pattern). </p>
<p>My own research shows that early pattern knowledge can support later mathematics achievement. And parents and teachers can work with their children from an early age to get them to think more deeply about patterns. </p>
<h2>What parents and teachers typically do</h2>
<p>Parents and teachers most often ask preschool children to copy and extend <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088520061500006X">patterns</a>. </p>
<p>For example, they ask children to extend a pattern by deciding what comes next in the pattern. Although a good start, these tasks do not push children to think about rules and <a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53414270.html">regularities</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, parents and teachers are less likely to encourage their children to do more sophisticated tasks that promote more attention to rules and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088520061500006X">regularities</a>.</p>
<p>For example, they rarely ask children to make the same kind of pattern using different objects or sounds (we call this abstracting a pattern) or to name the part of the pattern that repeats (identify a pattern’s rule). </p>
<p>This means parents and teachers are missing out on opportunities to support children’s pattern knowledge and mathematical reasoning.</p>
<h2>Kids get better with patterns</h2>
<p>We have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15248372.2012.689897">found</a> that many preschool children (ages 4 to 5) are <a href="http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/research/pro/about_peabody_research/funded_projects/career_project_home/early_algebra_research_projects/early_algebra_publications.php">able to abstract patterns</a> when prompted to do so. Further, their ability to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088520061500006X">abstract patterns</a> over the course of the pre-kindergarten year also improves. However, most have difficulty identifying a pattern’s rule.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81603/original/image-20150513-2452-1bhx6qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using alphabet letters to explain patterns helps kids learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=pattern%20alphabets%20children&keyword_search=1&page=10&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=199364972">Alphabets image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>One effective way to support attention to the pattern rule is for adults to label patterns using common, general terms. For example, preschool children learn better when alphabet letters are used to explain a pattern. </p>
<p>So, a red-blue-blue-red-blue-blue pattern could be labeled as an “ABB pattern,” <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12331/abstract">rather than</a> labeled using the color names. A new yellow-green-green-yellow-green-green pattern could be labeled as an “ABB pattern” too. This helps children see that the two patterns share a common rule.</p>
<p>If <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10409289.2013.794448#.VVDmbmaYUio">special attention</a> is given to patterning, it can help improve pattern knowledge. For example, research has found that when preschool children were <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5951/jresematheduc.42.3.0237">encouraged</a> to create new patterns over a period of six months, using different materials and with encouragement to identify a pattern’s rule, they were able to explain patterns better a year later. </p>
<h2>Patterning supports math achievement</h2>
<p>When special attention is given to patterning, it also improves children’s general mathematics achievement. Special attention to patterning in <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5951/jresematheduc.42.3.0237">preschool</a> <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10409289.2013.794448#.VVDmbmaYUio">and</a> in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02568543.2013.766664">first grade</a> led to better general math knowledge at the end of the school year.</p>
<p>And this early pattern knowledge matters for mathematics achievement in fifth grade as well. Children with better pattern knowledge at age seven had <a href="https://my.vanderbilt.edu/mathfollowup/reports/presentations/">better</a> mathematics achievement at age 11. Early pattern knowledge was found to be important for building later knowledge across a variety of mathematics topics, including number, algebra and geometry. </p>
<p>This also raises the issue of adding this to the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/Math/">Common Core State Standards</a>, which currently do not include patterning as a math content standard at any grade level. </p>
<p>There was limited evidence available when the standards were written, but now that we know that patterning supports important mathematical reasoning and achievement,
I believe it should be made part of the Common Core standards.</p>
<p>At the same time, teachers and parents should consider how to support patterning in preschool and the early grades. They should help children look for regularities and rules in patterns by asking them to make the same kind of pattern using different objects or sounds and to name the part of the pattern that repeats, so as to identify its rule. </p>
<p>This will help provide a foundation for future math learning and reasoning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Rittle-Johnson receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education</span></em></p>Patterns are simple sequences that repeat over and over again in a certain order. Supporting children’s ability to recognize patterns can improve mathematical skills.Bethany Rittle-Johnson, Associate Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.