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Defining, Drawing, and Continuing Repeating Patterns: Preschool Teachers’ Self-efficacy and Knowledge

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Part of the book series: Research in Mathematics Education ((RME))

Abstract

Patterning activities, specifically those related to repeating patterns, may encourage young children’s appreciation for underlying structures. This paper investigates preschool teachers’ knowledge and self-efficacy for defining, drawing, and continuing repeating patterns. Results indicated that teachers were able to draw and continue various repeating patterns but had difficulties defining repeating patterns. In general, teachers had a high self-efficacy for all tasks. However, teachers’ had a significantly lower self-efficacy for defining repeating patterns than for drawing and continuing repeating patterns.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1270/14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Dina Tirosh, Pessia Tsamir, Esther Levenson, Ruthi Barkai & Michal Tabach

Authors
  1. Dina Tirosh
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  2. Pessia Tsamir
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  3. Esther Levenson
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  4. Ruthi Barkai
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  5. Michal Tabach
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dina Tirosh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Chiara Andrà

  2. Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Domenico Brunetto

  3. School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Esther Levenson

  4. Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Peter Liljedahl

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Tirosh, D., Tsamir, P., Levenson, E., Barkai, R., Tabach, M. (2017). Defining, Drawing, and Continuing Repeating Patterns: Preschool Teachers’ Self-efficacy and Knowledge. In: Andrà, C., Brunetto, D., Levenson, E., Liljedahl, P. (eds) Teaching and Learning in Maths Classrooms. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49232-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49232-2_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49231-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49232-2

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