Eva Administered a Standard Conservation of Mass Task to 7-Year-Old

Multiple Choice

Eva administered a standard conservation of mass task to 7-year-old Juanita. After Juanita agreed that two balls of clay were of the same amount, Eva rolled one of the balls into a sausage. When Eva asked if the ball and the sausage still had the same amount of clay, Juanita said yes and used inversion (negation) to justify her answer. Which of the following is the justification Juanita gave?

A) "You didn't add any clay, and you didn't take any clay away, so the amount must be the same."
B) "If you rolled the sausage back into a ball you would see that it's still the same amount."
C) "The sausage is longer but the ball is taller."
D) "If you put them on a scale, the sausage and the ball would both weight the same."