Improve students' grasp of abstract concepts with free online games (pattern recognition activities)

Brain Calisthenics for Abstract Ideas

I bet many of your students can eventually and laboriously graph a line, but they can't just look at a graph and 'get' what that slope means, like you do.

But there might be a way students can train themselves to be able to recognize those patterns.

And you wouldn't have to create anything new.


According to new studies, students can build that automaticity that we want them to have, but backwards -- working from pattern recognition toward the abstract principle -- at least that's what the researchers in this fascinating New York Times article, "Brain Calisthenics for Abstract Ideas," seem to say:  "The brain is a pattern-recognition machine, after all, and when focused properly, it can quickly deepen a person’s grasp of a principle."  So apparently students can train themselves to recognize (and understand) intuitively what a negative slope looks like, and then have an easier time translating that into an equation.

Check out the free online tools below that students can use to practice graph recognition, word problems, and scientific concepts like feedback. Students are asked to solve problems very quickly, and You could assign them for homework, or try one yourself.

Perceptual Learning

How does a student learn pattern recognition? Try these samples to find out.

Basic Math

Measurements and Graphing: Match the equation to the graph and learn to perceive basic measurement concepts.

Positive and Negative Feeback

Extreme Ball: Time a fan to blow and push a ball attached to rubber bands.

Extreme Population: Help your city reach a population of one million citizens.

Stabilize Ball: Time a fan to blow and stabilize a ball attached to rubber bands.

Stabilize Population: Help your city's population stabilize at 500,000 citizens