ABSTRACT
One important way children develop an understanding of their world is by noticing, naming, comparing, and evaluating. As they notice and evaluate what’s happening around them, they often use comparative language to describe their observations. Although comparisons come naturally to children as they play and make sense of their world, not all kinds of comparison are equal mathematically. Equalizing sets is challenging for young children. In equalizing tasks students are not just asked to quantify sets, but also to compare quantities in relationship to each other. The strategy used here is to think about the relationship between thirteen and seven and find a way to equalize the sets so that the child with seven has thirteen. They have time to share and justify their thinking and listen to that of their peers.
