Chinese Journal of Science Education

Abstract

This research is aimed to analyze the influence of both structural factors and age on the kindergarten students’ finding of repeating patterns and the variance of such influences in terms of immediate feedback. The repeating pattern is a series of repeat occurrences of specific parameters such as “Red-Blue-Red-Blue” beads, four seasons, high and low tide, patterns on clothes, dancing and music. The repeat patterns finding is the perception and confirmation of repeat orders. The structural factors of both unit-length and complexity have been maneuvered in the experiment, the former included 4-and-6-unit and the later have been classified as “repeat and adjacent”, “repeat and NOT adjacent” and “NO repetition” according to complexity. The objectives of this research have been grouped as 4.5-and-5.5 year-olds and the total number of students was 20 per group and 40 overall. The result of accuracy analysis indicated that the performance of the two groups was almost identical and the influence of unit-length on accuracy rate was not clear, whereas the complexity of pattern had the greatest influence on the performance of these children. The accuracy rate of “repeat and NOT adjacent” was much lower than the other two types. Since the sequence of repeating element of “abac” is unstable, the uniting ability is most needed for child to discover such repeat patterns. With the type of “repeat and adjacent” represented as the law of similarity, while the repetition of “aa” is simpler to identified within “aabc”, they must be treated as individual element in the process of answering. The child’s ability to perceive was continuously examined through the two processes. The “NO repetition” type is consequently the simplest type with pure elements. The accuracy rate over the performance of perception in the group of 4.5- year-old-child will be upgraded with the intervention of feedback, but it’s not as good as the upgrading in 5.5s. The influence of feedback on different levels of complexity have indicated the following: the “NO repetition” type have been upgraded to full accuracy, the “repeat and NOT adjacent” type have shown greatest upgrading in accuracy and the accuracy rate was almost identical with “NO repetition” type after modification, and while the average accuracy rate of “repeat and NOT adjacent” type has also been also upgraded after feedback. The range of upgrading was comparatively small within three types. Although the rhythm method may be regarded as an alternative strategy for children to discover patterns through observation, it can not be seen as a measurable unit of perception. Finally, the researchers analyzed the participant’s history for answering empirical questions and provided frequent suggestions for research related to curriculum studies for kindergarten students.

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