Finding Patterns in Science

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to spot patterns in the world around you and use them to explain events in nature or to design a solution to a problem.

A pattern is something that repeats in a predictable way, whether it repeats in time, in space, or in the way numbers change. Scientists look for patterns because patterns are clues. When something happens over and over in the same way, there is usually a cause behind it, and finding that cause helps us understand a phenomenon, which is any event in nature that we can observe, such as a thunderstorm, a tide, or a rusting nail.

Think about summer along the Texas Gulf Coast. Almost every hot afternoon, clouds build up and a short, heavy rain falls, and every year between June and November the coast watches for tropical storms. Nobody has to guess randomly about this. People noticed the repeating pattern over many years, matched it to warm ocean water and rising moist air, and now they can make a prediction, which is a statement about what will probably happen next based on evidence.

Patterns do more than explain things; they help engineers design solutions. Because Houston and Corpus Christi know the pattern of heavy rain, they build storm drains, raised roads, and drainage ditches sized for the amount of water that usually falls. If the pattern changes and storms drop more rain than before, the design has to change too.

Patterns also connect different subjects. The same skill that helps you read a rainfall graph helps you notice repeating rows on the periodic table, repeating moon phases, or repeating traits passed from parents to offspring. Once you learn to ask "What repeats here, and why?" you can use that question in every science class.

Try it: What repeating pattern in the day and night sky could you use to predict what the Moon will look like next week?