Pattern Builders

***Explore your own number patterns to develop understanding***

• Encourage exploration...

• Allow problems to be broken into parts...

• Fill down tool makes pattern building easy...

• Check your pattern as you go...

You can use the pattern builders with a whole class, or by children working in groups or in pairs. Like the skill checks, you can make up your own calculations and check them, but this time you can get up to six to a page.

This lets you develop understanding of a wide range of mathematical topics, from metric equivalences through to multiplication and division of fractions.

Guided by you, children can explore, notice patterns within patterns and, through a process of discovery, formulate, test and establish rules to help them carry out other similar calculations. Rules discovered in this way will mean far more to pupils than those simply given as fact without any exploration as to why they work.

Many of the pattern builders are linked directly from the corresponding skill check, so it is possible to use them for investigating errors as well as for exploring new areas of Maths.

The online materials work beautifully on an interactive board or tablet and can also be used on any (PC or Mac) desktop or laptop.

There are too many pattern builders for them to be listed individually, but the link below will take you to the index, where you can browse to see the range of options available.

Overview

Photocopiable Investigations

Photocopiable Games

 

Online Activities

Investigations

Quizzes

Pair Games

Skill Checks

Pattern Builders

 

About the Site

Investigating

Talking about Thinking

Linking Ideas

Becoming Secure