Have you ever pondered over a sequence like this Red, red, red, blue; blue, blue, blue, red; red, red, red ______? Most likely you would have filled the blank with blue. Beyond these playful exercises lies a crucial recommendation: the importance of teaching patterns from early childhood.
The most complicated problems of the world are being solved with the help of observing patterns in nature.
This practice known as Biomimicry involves mimicking nature’s solutions of solving the challenges.
A prime example of this is the intricate network of veins in a leaf. These veins resemble a branching tree structure that transports water and nutrients across the leaf. Importantly, this design ensures that even if a part of the leaf is damaged, the remaining sections continue to receive the necessary water supply. Our water distribution system is designed inspired by the intricate network present in the leaves.
There are several other complex problems which are solved by observing the patterns in nature. And for the next generation to bring sustainable solutions to complex issues, it is important to let them observe and understand the patterns.
Observing nature is not only for solving complex problems but also for delving into nature and soaking in its amazing beauty.
Let’s explore patterns more deeply.
Patterns in Nature
Nature infuses vibrance into every element through fundamental patterns. The symmetry of the butterfly’s wings, the branching of the trees, the spirals of the sunflower seeds, the cracks of the dried mud, the spots of the leopard, the stripes of the zebra, the chaos of the flock of birds, the meanders of the flowing river, the flows of the waterfall, waves of the ocean, dunes of the desert, bubbles of the foam and bubbles of the seawater, Arrays arrangement in leaves, stem and flowers, the crystals of the snowflakes and gem and the tiling’s of the honeycomb are breathtaking diverse patterns that leaves us awestruck.
These amazing patterns in nature not onlay contribute to the aesthetics of the world but also play crucial roles in functionality, adaptation, and survival. They have inspired artists, scientists, and thinkers throughout history, highlighting the deep connection between science, mathematics, and the natural world.
Patterns in Real Life
Patterns bring order and predictability, allowing one to guess what would be the next.
What’s next plays an important role in each of our lives. Either we anticipate the happenings with the pattern of incidents that happened earlier. or we behave in a specific pattern to bring in desirable results. Either way observing the pattern plays a crucial role.
Patterns in Reading
Concerning reading, patterns will let the children anticipate or look out for the happenings in the story enthusiastically. The anticipation in turn enriches their comprehension skills. It also allows them to break the phonetic pattern of phonemes. Learning the patterns of the prefixes, suffixes, and root words helps students expand their vocabulary and guess the meaning of the unknown words.
Patterns also help the students to take reading to a deeper level of text analysis, genre identification, historical understanding, investigation, inference, conclusion drawing, and decision-making Patterns play a key role.
Activities for children to promote the observation of patterns
Hence it is important to develop the skill of observing patterns
The National Curriculum Framework also mentions that recognising the patterns starts from infancy.
Learning happens by creating patterns connecting millions of neurons.
Recognition of patterns happens automatically by observation. Hence it is important to introduce children to understanding patterns from early childhood. There are so many activities in which we can introduce patterns to children, however here are a few activities suggested by the National Curriculum Framework.
Children can engage in fun activities to learn about patterns. Let them listen to different sounds, arrange toys in a special order, or even make cool art like weaving or beading. Patterns are everywhere, even in music! When they play with musical notes and beats, it’s like solving a musical puzzle. Additionally, music helps them feel calm and happy.
Math can be more fun with patterns too! They can learn about fractions by looking at notes in music – some are whole, some are halves, and some are quarters. It’s like a math game with music!
We can help them find patterns in nature, like in leaves, weather, and even in how people live and work. When they look at patterns in everything around them, it makes them think, ask questions, and figure things out.
When you read a book to them, help them to look for patterns in the words. It’s like finding clues that help us understand the story better. And when you go outside ask them to look at nature and identify the same. like a big adventure! They will learn about the world and train their brains to solve problems.
Sridevi Srinivasan
