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This study investigates relational thinking as a foundational cognitive entry point for constructing deep conceptual understanding in mathematics learning, grounded in a constructivist perspective that views learning as meaning-making through recognizing and organizing relationships rather than mastering procedures in isolation.Adopting a descriptive-analytical interpretive design, the study integrates qualitative analysis supported by descriptive quantitative indicators.The sample consisted of 50 eleventh-grade students.Data were collected through four mathematically rich tasks spanning probability, statistics, analytic geometry, and algebra, designed to elicit procedural thinking, relational thinking, and deep conceptual understanding.The findings reveal clear distinctions in students' response patterns: higher levels of relational thinking were associated with more coherent explanations, stronger connections across representations, well-justified procedures, and greater ability to generalize and transfer knowledge to new contexts, whereas reliance on procedural execution was linked to fragmented and less flexible understanding.The study concludes that fostering relational thinking is a conceptual necessity for meaningful mathematics learning and recommends reorienting instructional and assessment practices toward supporting relational reasoning, interpretation of relationships, and justification of solutions as core indicators of deep and sustainable conceptual understanding.