Reply To: Lesson 5-3: Notice & Name – Absolute vs. Relative Thinking – Discussion

[Lavon Heath]

Absolute thinking uses terminology of “more than/less than.” It’s additive thinking where we are looking for differences of a single unit.

With relative thinking we are evaluating one object in terms of another. I will hear students talking about about “groups of” or “times.” It’s multiplicative thinking. They might still be counting on their fingers, but each finger would represent a multiple rather than an individual number.

[Lavon Heath]

Absolute thinking uses terminology of “more than/less than.” It’s additive thinking where we are looking for differences of a single unit.

With relative thinking we are evaluating one object in terms of another. I will hear students talking about about “groups of” or “times.” It’s multiplicative thinking. They might still be counting on their fingers, but each finger would represent a multiple rather than an individual number.