Negative Numbers Introducing the Concept Developing the Concept Negative Numbers Draw a large number line and put it in a prominent place in the room for students to refer to throughout the unit. Students may not have used a number line in a while, so it may be a good idea to have them do some operations with positive numbers first to refresh their memories. Have the students make their own number lines to use when ordering negative numbers and when doing operations with negative numbers. Whenever possible, provide real-world models of negative numbers, such as taking steps forward or back.
Students often become confused with the terms minus, negative, and opposite.
Minus refers to the operation of subtraction. Negative is the sign of a number. Opposite is used to refer to the number that has the opposite sign. Students should justify their answers for operations with negative numbers by drawing a number line and indicating movement on it with arrows. Give students a positive number or negative number and ask them to give you two numbers, one positive and one negative, whose sum is the given number.