Patterns are fundamental in nature. They surround us, whether in books, sports, games, music, or otherwise. That’s why developing strong pattern recognition skills at a young age is crucial in preparing the mind to be more active and more powerful.
MindFinity focuses on the development of four key components of polymath thinking; pattern recognition, pattern design, analogy, and real-time composition.
At its core, pattern recognition is the process of training ourselves to spot trends. As we age and gain critical thinking skills, pattern recognition skills can help us to make decisions, and eventually our brains naturally recognize patterns and learn from them. This allows us to sort objects and situations in the mind and determine the next steps we should take.
For example, we use pattern recognition when we drive. We are aware of traffic patterns and how they play into the rules of the road. We know (or at least we should know) the first person who goes at a four-way stop, that yellow lights will always turn red, and how to use a roundabout. Even if we drive on roads that we have never been on before, we can still safely navigate by relying on our knowledge of traffic patterns.
Without these abilities, it would be impossible for us to get from place to place. Patterns allow us to get through life and understand the things that we encounter. We are able to make educated choices.
In the same way, our understanding of patterns can help us navigate unfamiliar territory. MindFinity’s method of knowledge transfer trains your child to take the patterns they learn in one field into new subjects in order to accelerate learning. By placing an emphasis on play and exploration, MindFinity’s games speed learning through analogy. How can swimming be like painting? How can Karate translate into music? This sort of knowledge transfer is just one of the skills that MindFinity’s games will help your child learn. Go to our Getting Started Facebook member community to learn more.
What Are Pattern Recognition Skills?
Pattern recognition is the ability to recognize emotional, intellectual, and physical patterns, and articulate how they connect. Of course, this is helpful in many different subject areas, particularly as children are learning.
Pattern recognition can be used to classify data, predict the future, problem solve, and more. Nearly everything we do on a daily basis revolves around patterns in some way, from the things we do when we wake up in the morning, to the way we get work done, to the ways we settle down at night.
Types of Pattern Recognition Skills
Throughout everything we do, there are patterns. There are different types of pattern recognition skills.
Patterns in Art: The ability to explain differences and similarities is at the heart of any practice of pattern recognition. Children will likely have the easiest time spotting patterns in art. At MindFinity, one of our earliest games asks kids to notice and begin to articulate the difference between a triangle and a square. We then ask our kids to fill the shapes with two colors, then redraw the shapes and swap the colors. This helps children understand visually how to recognize and design their own patterns. You can spot this one easily as they grow, because you will see them drawing lines or circles on paper.
Patterns In Math: Of course, most people think about the patterns we approach from a mathematical perspective. Solving mathematical problems, spending money, and determining budgets all require a nuanced capacity to recognize and explain patterns.
Patterns in Music: Music is composed of repeated patterns and those who recognize these patterns tend to be better at playing and composing music. This is because once we learn the components of music we can imitate the patterns we hear and teach ourselves to play.
Patterns in Language: At developmental ages, children learn language largely through imitation. In this way, children learn manners and the means by which to behave. While English is a difficult language to learn, there are patterns in it. Every language bears traceable patterns that help us to remember when and how to formulate ideas. These things can seem obvious to those that know the rules – when to add a feminine ending in Spanish, when to add an -es to make something plural in English, or when to put an accent over a letter in German – but for children who are acquiring language, it can be difficult to articulate these patterns. However, by reinforcing the skill of imitation and by giving children the tools to recognize patterns of grammar, they can take on new languages faster..
Patterns in Emotion: Children need to be able to learn what types of statements make people upset, what happens when they do something wrong, and how to protect themselves against emotions. For example, they need to learn that if they misbehave in the classroom during the day, they may face a punishment (some might not get to eat dessert that night). Or they may learn that if they are mean to a child on the playground other children might not want to play with them. Once they begin to recognize these patterns, they can navigate life while instructing themselves and become successful.
MindFinity prepares your child to utilize the recognize the patterns in each of these domains and to utilize them as polymath thinkers, able to competently use the strength of their artistic talents in math and vice versa. As automation and AI forever alter the world’s job market, the acquired skill of polymath thinking will prepare your child to become an innovator. Click here to get started playing games.
Why Is Pattern Recognition Important?
Pattern recognition skills build on your child’s thinking process and strengthens their ability to understand shapes, sequences, and systems. Having these skills means that young students can grow and focus their imagination into the development of innovative ways of thinking.
Pattern design, analogy, and real-time composition are all essential skills needed for polymath thinking too – all of which your child will acquire through our program as they move patterns from one discipline to another.
One of the reasons that computers have started to take jobs away from people is because computers are about to use pattern recognition to automate simple repeated tasks. However, computers can only imitate existing patterns, it is difficult for them to discover new one.
When it comes to spotting patterns in emotional responses, unique situations, and in newer areas, computers haven’t had the time or ability to collect data that allows them to predict. The jobs of the future will be for those who are able to utilize polymath thinking to creatively design new patterns.
Pattern recognition is so important for children because it helps with:
- Recognizing and classifying concepts
- Identifying solutions to problems
- Developing autonomy in the thinking process
- Working with Other People to find creative solutions.
How Does MindFinity Help With Pattern Recognition?
To develop pattern recognition skills, it is crucial to introduce new concepts a little at a time and then expand on them. The micro-games on MindFinity start out very simple, but become increasingly more complex. We start with patterns of two, and then three. Once we master the various permutations, and learn to move them more rapidly across disciplines, we then begin to combine them in more challenging ways.
Being able to recognize patterns, redesign them, and apply them to new fields is at the heart of this practice. In as little as five minutes, your child will be able to translate an arrangement of shapes into a musical sequence. After a few weeks, they’ll know how to translate this same sequence into karate, cooking, dancing and more. The best part is that this is all achieved through play.
MindFinity’s games are designed to make learning a joy by giving parents a methodology that only requires 5 minutes of play every day. MindFinity asks you and your family to access polymath thinking on a daily basis in order to prepare your child to cultivate multi-talent acquisition. This skill prepares the mind to see similarities across disciplines and recognize how the mathematical possibilities can lead to creativity. As your child develops his or her Inventive IQ, the ability to recognize similar patterns across a variety of disciplines becomes second nature. This ability will be vital as tomorrow’s job market increasingly gives way to automation and AI. Instead of worrying if your child is being prepared for the future, give them the tools to become the innovator of tomorrow.
MindFinity also connects you with a community of like-minded parents who are giving their children an edge in the future. Our member community serves as an invaluable resource to see how other families have adopted this award-winning methodology. Eventually, you’ll be able to create your own games and share them, seeing how other families are playing.
With short practices every day, your child can expand their way of thinking and grow into the creative problem solver they were meant to be.
