Curriculum context

The Mathematics and statistics learning area assessments were administered in Term 3 of 2024 and were informed by the 2024 refreshed New Zealand Curriculum.

Although not aligned with the current gazetted version of the learning area, these reports provide insights into student engagement, teaching practices, and learning experiences during a period of curriculum transition.

Purpose of the insight

This insight supports teachers to explore students’ understanding of growing patterns and the shift toward generalisation in phases 2–3, guided by the following question:

What do students know and understand about growing patterns?

This insight begins by defining key mathematical ideas— what growing patterns are and what it means to generalise them. It then describes how these ideas develop across phases 2 and 3 of the 2024 refreshed curriculum. Assessment tasks are introduced next, followed by data that illustrates students’ strengths and challenges. The report ends with practical implications for teaching and links to useful resources.

Insight

Students are making progress with growing patterns, but need further support with generalising.

Across Phases 2 and 3, many students are able to confidently extend growing visual patterns and use tables to record and understand how the number of elements changes from one step to the next. This reflects progression of knowledge, practices, and processes, an important foundation for algebra. However, moving from recognising how a pattern grows to expressing a general rule for its growth, especially using symbols and variables, remains a challenge for many. This step is central to developing algebraic thinking, as described in the 2024 refreshed New Zealand Curriculum.

More information is available on the website of the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study.