Introduction

This section presents the current draft of our pattern language.
The Overview tab presents an introduction to our pattern language and the system we use for presenting and creating it.
Use the Browse the patterns tab to explore our pattern language
It allows you to browse the patterns either as one long list, or as a hierarchical structure.

While we do not claim to offer a comprehensive set of patterns, we aim to address issues across a broad range of aspects pertaining to the process of designing, implementing and deploying games for mathematical learning.

Our patterns are distributed along two axis:

• Vertical: level of detail, where one pattern elaborates a higher level one, or is used by it as a component.
• Horizontal: modes of the process, where different patterns refer to the design, implementation and deployment of games.

We try to maintain a coherence across these two dimensions. Nevertheless, variations in form and style are inevitable, as the nature of the questions asked differ.

Trails

Paradoxically, often as more expert knowledge is embedded in a pattern languages it becomes less accessible to novices. As a pattern language grows more rich and intricate it becomes the private language of the community which created it. Novices do not know where to start and how to penetrate it, because the structure of the language does not expose the path along which it evolved. In an attempt to address this issue, we have added a tool called 'Trails'. A trail is an informal illustrative account of how patterns were derived or how they might be used. It is not presented as hard data or detailed analysis, but rather as an aid for the casual reader.