Pattern Maker

Description

Pattern Maker is a strategy that helps students find existing patterns and important elements in material by closely analyzing analogous material. That is, material that is seemingly unrelated, but shares characteristics with the topic to be covered that would help students more deeply understand the primary information to be covered. These patterns are then applied to the actual content of the lesson.

To implement a Pattern Maker lesson…

1. Identify the topic to be covered and the essential learning students will need to complete.
2. Find the analogous source of information that will support deeper learning of the primary content of the lesson.
3. Support students as they identify and document the structure in the analogous material and facilitate a discussion in the class, incorporating various conclusions.
4. Share new content with students and begin applying the analogous material’s structure to the new content.

Why it works...

This strategy is effective because it connects two pieces of seemingly unrelated information in a way that asks students the be somewhat creative in connecting them. Once students have locked in on the idea of finding a connection between the two sets of information, it’s up to them to find the best analogous path between the two sets of information.

Tech integration...

Consider providing students with an opportunity to share and defend their reasoning behind patterns they find in the analogous material and how it relates to the new material. Screencasting is a wonderful way to provide students with the platform necessary to show, share, and defend their thinking.