Solving Repeating-Pattern Tasks in First Grade: an Eye-Tracking Study of Students With and Without Risk of Developing Mathematical Difficulties

Abstract First-graders’ patterning skills are a robust predictor of later mathematics achievement. This underscores the importance of fostering these skills in primary mathematics education, especially for students at risk of developing mathematical difficulties. Understanding students’ errors, pattern-recognition processes, and process accuracy, defined as the success rate associated with specific solving processes, is essential to support students in developing their patterning skills. This study examines differences in error rates, pattern-recognition processes, and process accuracy between first-grade students with and without the risk of developing mathematical difficulties (RMD and nonRMD) using eye-tracking technology. A total of 224 first-grade students completed twelve repeating-pattern tasks while their eye movements were tracked to assess their pattern-recognition processes. The results show that RMD students had significantly higher error rates. Eye-tracking analyses revealed that RMD students were more likely to use pattern-recognition processes focused on a single unit of repeat compared to nonRMD students, while nonRMD students were more likely to use relational processes and validate the unit of repeat, along with lower error rates. Our findings identify validation processes as a potentially relevant focus for instructional support; however, intervention studies are needed to determine whether fostering these processes improves first-graders’ conceptual understanding of repeating patterns.