Question

Ava, age 5, and her mother are playing with clay. They make two round balls of the same size. Ava flattens one into a pancake shape and says, "Look, Mommy, now this one has more clay." In this context, Ava does not yet understand ____.

Answer 1

The answer is conservation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The concept of conservation explains that an object will preserve its original properties even if the parts are differently shaped or distributed. In the example, Ava believes that her pancake has more clay because it covers more area.

According to Piaget, understanding conservation is a key element in the concrete operational stage, which appears around age seven.