Students’ Pattern Generalization Process: The 7th Grade Sample

This study examines 7th grade students’ pattern generalization process. The study was conducted with nine students. A pattern test composing of ten questions and an interview test composing of five questions were used as the data collection tool. According to research results, the students mostly used the recursive relationship strategy to find near distance terms; the rule-based strategy to find medium distance terms; and the explicit strategy to find the rule of the patterns. The students rarely used the guess-and-check and whole object strategies in order to find the rules of the patterns. They did not use the visual strategies at all. They did not consider the given figures or the structures of those figures. They focused on only numerical relationships in order to find the rules of the patterns. The highest success rate in finding the rule of the patterns was observed in repeated pattern questions whereas the lowest success rate was observed in quadratic growing pattern questions.