The Effect Of Task Model And Format On Abstraction Strategies In Early Repeating Patterns

7TH INTERNATIONAL TURKISH COMPUTER & MATHEMATICS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM, Antalya, Türkiye, 14 - 16 Kasım 2025, ss.151, (Özet Bildiri)

Patterning knowledge encompasses recognizing relationships and generalizing them, which is crucial for cultivating

fundamental cognitive skills, including algebraic and relational reasoning. Repeating patterns are one of the

fundamental forms to support algebraic thinking. Especially, abstraction—recreating the pattern using novel materials—

and unit identification—identifying the smallest portion that repeats—are claimed as more advanced tasks. These tasks

support comprehending the structure of the pattern, which is the repeating unit. However, current findings revealed that

abstraction tasks can be completed correctly using recursive strategies. The spatial alignment of the abstraction tasks

may play a role in these findings. This study aims to investigate how different spatial alignments of abstraction tasks

affect children’s strategy use.

A repeated measures design was used. Fifty-six participants aged 4-6 years old from two public preschools participated

in the study, with an average of 65.22 months (SD = 8.58). Repeating Pattern Abstraction Tasks (RPAT) were developed

in two different formats, as multiple choice and drag and drop, as well as 3 different spatial alignments of the model

pattern: vertical, horizontal, and hiding. There were 12 items in total, and children completed them in about 25 minutes.

Two mixed-effects logistic regressions were performed to reveal how the task model and format impact the strategy use

of the children.

The first mixed-effect logistic regression was performed to predict the use of relational strategy. Results revealed that

only the squared term of age was a significant predictor (B = -1.460, p = 0.016). This indicates a curvilinear

relationship, where the likelihood of using a relational strategy increases with age. Notably, the type of task model

(horizontal, vertical, or hiding) and the format did not influence children’s use of this strategy. The second mixed-effect

logistic regression was performed to predict the recursive strategy use of the children. The task model is a significant

predictor for strategy use, while the format is marginally non-significant (p = .055). Compared to the horizontal model,

the odds of children using the recursive strategy were lower for the vertical (OR = 0.29, p < .001) and hiding (OR =

0.09, p < .001) models. Therefore, children tended to use recursive strategies in the horizontal model compared to

vertical and hiding. Age is not a statistically significant predictor for recursive strategies, so it was removed from the

model.

These findings indicate that when a child develops a solid understanding of a repeating unit, they adaptively use their

knowledge in different task models and formats. These align with algebraic thinking as well, so emphasizing units in

abstraction tasks might develop early algebra in a non-symbolic way. On the other hand, children who use recursive

strategies are affected by task models. Importantly, horizontal alignment supported higher recursive strategy use than

hiding and vertical alignment. Therefore, horizontal alignment led children to use more comparison-based procedures.

These results suggest that not only educators and curriculum designers but also researchers should consider spatial and

format-related design features when developing patterning instruction and assessment tools for early childhood

education.