For us teachers, incorporating patterns into our math curriculum is very important. Patterns are present in many different branches of math. Such as formulas in geometry, to long division, etc. Students are performing pattern-like tasks everyday in their math lessons, homework and tests. They just might not be aware of it at the time.
Being able to teach our students how to recognize patterns all around them is very important.
For a simple example with practicing the differentiating of patterns, students can be given four images and decide 1. which one does not belong or 2. what each image has different from the alternate 3.
Why is this important? Patterns are a way of life, we see them each and every day even when we don't even realize it. We want our students to be able to go home and tell their parents how they recognize and analyze different patterns, because when they do, we know that they fully understand that single concept of math, and as a teacher, that is an important milestone. As students are recognizing these patterns, i want them to be thinking about how math is involved, and this will help them realize how important math really is and how we use it every single day. This will help answer their questions, of "why is this important, I'm never going to use it?" And being able to answer WHY to that question, is a huge step in education.
Let's practice and give it a try!
Answers:
Top left- Not a digital clock.
Top right- Specifies whether its AM or PM. The others are not stated.
Bottom left- Hour is at 8, the others are at 9 o'clock.
Bottom right- Minute is at 32, the others are all at 31 minutes.
