The correct answer is A. It helped him use materials in a new way to help him gather data.
Explanation:
The use of food coloring in this experiment makes it easier to observe how salt affects ice and if this helps ice to melt. This implies by adding food coloring John can better observe the phenomenon he is studying and gather precisely data about this phenomenon, which would also help him to draw accurate conclusions. In this context, the use of food coloring shows creativity because he is using this material as an alternative way and this use would help him in the stage of gathering data (option A), which is the stage that follows after implementing experiments.
