Find rules by watching new growth
Run a growth factory where the conveyor sends only the new layer. Fresh tiles reveal first differences, making sequence rules easier to see.
Growing patterns become easier when students watch what changes from one step to the next. This game sends only the new tiles down a conveyor, so the first difference is the moving part of the pattern, not a hidden table.
Aligned with CCSS 5.OA.B.3 for generating and analyzing numerical patterns.
Growing patterns
The conveyor feeds only the new layer, making first differences visible.
Pattern reasoning model
Pattern Growth Lab is built for students who need to see growth, differences, and rule structure before writing formulas. It gives the page a clear search purpose: learn the model, manipulate it, then continue into the matching grade-level practice.
Pattern Growth Lab helps when a student can copy a procedure but cannot explain why it works. The demo slows the idea down into a visible model before sending the learner to guided missions.
Learning goals
How to play
Continue with guided practice
The new tiles are the first difference. They often reveal the rule faster than the totals because they show what each step contributes.
It compares neighboring terms. If the first differences are steady, the pattern is linear; if second differences are steady, a quadratic pattern may be forming.
The lab includes stair growth, square borders, and a handshake web, each chosen because the new-growth layer tells a different rule story.
Grades 4-6, especially Grade 5 pattern analysis and Olympiad-style sequence problems.
