Supporting children to be accurate when creating grid patterns in foundation year

Research has highlighted how important it is for teachers to develop students' knowledge of the patterns and structures that connect key mathematics concepts of number, measurement, shape and space (Mulligan et al., 2008). The Pattern and Structure Mathematics Awareness Program (PASMAP) (Mulligan and Mitchel- more, 2016) is a research-based program that supports Foundation to Year 2 teachers to develop students' awareness of patterns and connections in mathematics. The program provides resources for teachers to teach all strands of mathematics by focusing on underlying organisational structures such as the use of a grid in equal grouping, base ten representations, area, arrays and graphing. PASMAP includes learning sequences of tasks that are mapped to the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2022). The PASMAP learning sequences follow a five-stage pedagogical model consisting of modelling, representing, visualising, generalising, and sustaining, with the aim of deepening the understanding of mathematical concepts and their patterns and structural relationships (Ferrington, 2018; Mulligan and Mitchelmore, 2016). The Australian Curriculum General Capabilities (ACARA, 2022) emphasises how important students' behaviours and dispositions are to their learning. Therefore, teachers need and use their knowledge and skills to observe and recognise behaviours that show that children are disposed to be engaged with their learning, and to develop those dispositions.