While playing with some candy,3-year-old Ruth places five chocolate pieces in one row and another five pieces in an identical row.She then accidentally pushes the end piece of candy in row one away from the rest.After staring at this new "longer" row,she decides to eat it because,"it now has more candy." Ruth's thinking is explained as the result of the inability to conserve
A) area.
B) length.
C) number.
D) volume.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Ruth's thinking is explained as the result of the inability to conserve the number of candy. She believed that the row with the pushed-out candy had more pieces than the other row, even though both had the same number of pieces. This inability to understand that the quantity of an object does not change even if the arrangement or appearance changes is called conservation. Ruth hasn't developed this concept yet, which is typical of a child her age.

While Playing with Some Candy,3-Year-Old Ruth Places Five Chocolate Pieces