Engaging children with ABA patterns on a computer tablet: filling in the blanks

ABSTRACT

Several studies have investigated children’s engagement with repeating pattern tasks, but few have related to patterns with ABA as the minimal unit of repeat. This study focuses on identifying intuitive characteristics of children’s work as they engage with repeating pattern tasks of different structures, focusing on the differences between ABA patterns and other patterns. The 11 children in this study are between the ages of four and seven years and are observed as they play with a repeating pattern application on computer tablet. A qualitative study of three children’s interactions with the application, including an analysis of gestures, found that completing an ABA pattern was non-intuitive.

KEYWORDS:

• repeating patterns
• gestures
• touch-screen technology
• intuition

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

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