Kindergarten students were pretested on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills -Revised (ABLLS-R), and Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III).Following testing, the students were randomly assigned to tutoring groups which focused on patterning, reading, mathematics or social studies (control IntroductionPatterning instruction (i.e., instruction focusing on the alternating presentations of colors, shapes, or objects) is traditionally a part of early childhood education. Such instruction begins with simple ababab patterns such as red blue red blue red blue, and becomes increasingly complex. This subject matter has been taught across the USA for the last half-century, and many educators still view it as a necessary foundation for elementary school mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1993; National Association for the Education of Young Children/National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Education, 2002/2010). Patterning is thought to improve young children's understanding of mathematics (Baroody, 1993; Clements &Sarama, 2007, a,b,c; Threfall,1993;Warren, Cooper, & Lamb, 2006); however, empirical evidence that instruction in patterning contributes to young children's understanding of mathematics is sparse.The limited research supporting the importance of patterning instruction for children's mathematical development includes a recent longitudinal study done by Fyfe, Rittle-Johnson, Hofer and Farren (2015). Significant regression coefficients (.17-.18) were found between children's performance on patterning measures as preschoolers and their performance on a mathematical composite score. Another correlational study done by White, Alexander, and Daugherty (1998) found a strong correlation (.56) between preschoolers' ability to extend alternating patterns and their scores on analogical reasoning as measured by the Georgia Kindergarten Assessment Program (GKAP). Both of these studies support the conclusion that an early understanding of alternating patterns is related to later mastery of mathematics. However, there was no instructional component to these studies, and correlational studies alone cannot prove causality. A more direct approach is to instruct children in patterning and to then measure the resulting benefits on mathematical ability.

The military lifestyle can create formidable challenges for military families. This article describes the Military Family Fitness Model (MFFM), a comprehensive model aimed at enhancing family fitness and resilience across the life span. This model is intended for use by Service members, their families, leaders, and health care providers but also has broader applications for all families. The MFFM has three core components: (1) family demands, (2) resources (including individual resources, family resources, and external resources), and (3) family outcomes (including related metrics). The MFFM proposes that resources from the individual, family, and external areas promote fitness, bolster resilience, and foster well-being for the family. The MFFM highlights each resource level for the purpose of improving family fitness and resilience over time. The MFFM both builds on existing family strengths and encourages the development of new family strengths through resource-acquiring behaviors. The purpose of this article is to (1) expand the military's Total Force Fitness (TFF) intent as it relates to families and (2) offer a family fitness model. This article will summarize relevant evidence, provide supportive theory, describe the model, and proffer metrics that support the dimensions of this model.

The ability to discover a regularity among an ordered set of units, termed patterning, is a crucial cognitive ability that precedes pre-algebraic mathematics skills and possibly reading. However, there is limited research on the cognitive underpinnings of patterning. There is some suggestion that there is a relation between cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to switch attention between two aspects of a stimulus, and patterning. However, no research has focused on this relation in children during early school years, which is when these skills are developing. The current study examined the relation between patterning, cognitive flexibility, and reading in first-grade children in the expectation that they would be related. Performance on the patterning and the card sorting cognitive flexibility measures were significantly related. However, reading and cognitive flexibility were not significantly related. This study is one of the first to show that cognitive flexibility may be an important underlying component of patterning ability.

Detecting a pattern within a sequence of ordered units, defined as patterning, is a cognitive ability that is important in learning mathematics and influential in learning to read. The present study was designed to examine relations between first-grade children’s executive functions, patterning, and reading abilities, and to examine whether these relations differ by the type of pattern. The results showed that working memory correlated with reading fluency, and comprehension measures. Inhibition correlated only with the latter. Cognitive flexibility was correlated with patterning performance and with performance on object size patterns, whereas working memory was correlated with performance on symmetrical patterns and growing number patterns. These results suggest that the cognition required for completing patterns differs depending on the pattern type. Teachers may find it beneficial to place emphasis on the switching and working memory components of completing patterning tasks, depending on the type of patterns used in instruction.