The Number Venn Diagram

I love activities that appear simple but end up launching a deep classroom conversation. The Number Venn Diagram (from OpenUp Resources) was that kind of activity.

My students were wrapping up their study of absolute value and negative numbers. I gave them several pairs of numbers that they had to sort into one of four categories, represented in a Venn Diagram:

• is the greater number
• has the greater absolute value
• both
• none of the above

In pairs, my students had to show their understanding of absolute value by comparing the two numbers in each pair and putting each number where it fit in the Venn Diagram.

Then, we discussed it as a class.

The discussion we had was dynamic, with everyone engaged throughout, even though there were plenty of wrong answers. Negative numbers and absolute value are a topic that I feel like my students are pretty solid in, and I know that it is partly because of rigorous and thoughtful activities like this.

It promoted reflective discussion, good thinking, and it fueled our brains for the rest of the class. It was a simple warm-up activity that ended up being so much more.