Topic 15 Light and heat — what needs James (0)
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Question types (7)
One exemplar per question type in the test bank; approving a type approves every item written to it. The full type sheet.
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 1 · bank item PP-1 · tests ENE3-020
EasyMCQType 1 — four things on a night-time table are named, untouched for an hour; which is most likely to be the warmest
On a picnic table at night sit a lit lantern, a plate, a bottle of water and a spoon, untouched for an hour. Which is most likely to be the warmest?
- a) the plate
- b) the lit lantern ← key
- c) the bottle of water
- d) the spoon
Why it is this type: Easy because: one step — the student sees which thing gives light and infers that it is the warm one; a student who thinks light-givers are cool has no warm thing to pick.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The lantern's flame gives light. / Something that gives light is usually warm too, and a flame is hot. / The plate, the bottle and the spoon give no light, so the lit lantern is most likely to be the warmest.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 2 · bank item PP-2 · tests ENE3-021
EasyMCQType 2 — two named things are rubbed together, fast; what happens to them
Matias rubs two wooden blocks together, fast, for a minute. What happens to the blocks?
- a) Both get colder.
- b) Both stay the same.
- c) Both get warmer. ← key
- d) One gets warmer and one gets colder.
Why it is this type: The two blocks rub against each other. / When two things rub together, both get warmer. / So both blocks get warmer.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 3 · bank item PP-3 · tests ENE3-033
MediumMCQType 3 — a thing has stood in sunshine and is warm; why
A garden wall stands in the sunshine all morning, and by noon it is warm. Why is the wall warm?
- a) The Sun's light carried energy to the wall. ← key
- b) The wall makes its own warmth in the daytime.
- c) Warm wind blew from the Sun onto the wall.
- d) The wall is white, and white things are always warm.
Why it is this type: Medium because: the reason is the transfer sentence applied to a fresh scene, against three catalogued beliefs (the thing warms itself; warmth arrives on the wind; white things are warm — false by Topic 14). Every option is one statement of the same shape.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The Sun's light lands on the wall. / Light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on. / The wall gets that energy all morning, so the wall is warm.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 4 · bank item PP-4 · tests ENE3-021
MediumMCQType 4 — rubbed hands warm up; why
Soledad rubs her cold hands together, fast, and they warm up. Why do her hands warm up?
- a) The cold left her hands and went into the air.
- b) The air around her hands warmed them.
- c) Her hands made warmth out of nothing.
- d) Her moving hands gave the skin some energy. ← key
Why it is this type: Medium because: the key rests on two ideas (a moving thing has mechanical energy; the moving hands gave some of it to the skin) against the ENE-08 belief in option a and the "warmth from nothing" belief in option c.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): Soledad's hands were moving. / A moving thing has mechanical energy. / The moving hands gave some of that energy to the skin where they rub, so her hands warmed up; there is no such thing as cold leaving them.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 5 · bank item PP-5 · tests ENE3-033
MediumMCQType 5 — a lamp has been on for an hour and the book under it is warm; why is the book warm
A desk lamp has been on for an hour, and the book under it is warm, though nothing touches it. Why is the book warm?
- a) The book makes its own warmth.
- b) The lamp's light carried energy to the book. ← key
- c) The warm bulb touched the book.
- d) The book is bright, so it must be warm.
Why it is this type: Medium because: the lamp is warm (020) AND the book under it is warm (033), and the student must pick the light's carrying over "the warm bulb touched it" — the 020 fact misapplied to a thing the bulb never touched.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The lamp's light lands on the book. / Light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on. / The book gets that energy for an hour, so the book is warm.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 6 · bank item PP-6 · tests ENE3-033
typedType 6 — a wall faces the Sun all morning and gets warm, nothing touches it; what carries the energy from the Sun to the wall — type the name of the carrier
A wall faces the Sun all morning and gets warm. Nothing touches the wall. What carries the energy from the Sun to the wall? Type the name of the carrier.
Accepted answers (typed): light · the light · sunlight · the sunlight · sun light · the sun light · sunshine · the sunshine · sun shine · the sun shine · the sun's light · sun's light (straight and curly apostrophe) · the suns light · suns light · its light · the light from the sun · light from the sun
Why it is this type: Hard because: two steps — the student must know the wall warmed because energy arrived, then name the CARRIER rather than the source (most will type "the Sun"); the answer is typed, and the stem prints neither "light" nor "sunlight". The stem's four sentences are within the hard tag (sweep S23).
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The Sun's light travels to the wall and lands on it. / Light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on. / So the light carries the energy from the Sun to the wall, and the wall warms up.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 15 · Light and heat · Type 7 · bank item PP-7 · tests ENE3-021 ENE3-004
HardtypedType 7 — rubbed sticks warm up: what kind of energy did the moving sticks have — type one word
TEXT
Lorcan rubs two sticks together, fast, and the sticks warm up. What kind of energy did the moving sticks have? Type one word.
- a) only while Lorcan rubbed them (key A)
- b) only after he set them down
- c) the whole time
- d) never
Accepted answers (typed): mechanical · kinetic · mechanical energy · kinetic energy · the mechanical energy · the kinetic energy · mecanical · mechanicle · mechanicol · mechanic · machanical · mecanicle · kinetik · kenetic · kinectic · kinnetic · kinetick · cinetic · mechanical enegy · kinetic enegy · mechanical energie · kinetic energie
Stem: Lorcan rubs two sticks together, fast, and they warm up. Then he sets them down, still warm. When did the sticks have mechanical energy?
Why: The sticks were moving while Lorcan rubbed them. / A moving thing has mechanical energy. / The moving sticks gave some of that mechanical energy to the places that rubbed, so the sticks warmed up. / Once set down, the sticks were still, so they had no mechanical energy, only their warmth.
Why it is this type: Hard because: two ideas chained — the sticks were MOVING (the student supplies this from "rubs"), and a moving thing has that kind of energy — and the term is PRODUCED, not picked. Checker: S30(a) passes on the item's closed note (the key is Topic 12's term, not this topic's lexicon). The WHEN-MCQ form of the morning pass is kept below for the record only.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The sticks were moving while Lorcan rubbed them. / A moving thing has mechanical energy. / The moving sticks gave some of that energy to the places that rubbed, so the sticks warmed up.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
More from the sheet on this type
The morning pass's WHEN-MCQ (dropped 29 Sep 2026, evening)
fb: The sticks were moving only while he rubbed them, and a moving thing has mechanical energy. · After he set them down the sticks were still; a still thing has no mechanical energy, even if it is warm. · Once the sticks were set down they stopped moving, so they had no mechanical energy then. · While Lorcan rubbed them the sticks were moving, and a moving thing has mechanical energy.
Was typed ("mechanical energy"); James's typed-item ruling (29 Sep 2026; vault 10 Rules/A typed answer is asked only where the question is closed, and every correct answer is accepted.md) — a two-word phrase answer was ruled open (the cold read had already offered "movement energy" and "kinetic energy", both true in the world and both refused). The move is kept — the student must bring Topic 12's "a moving thing has mechanical energy" to the rubbing scene — and the ask is turned to WHEN, so the term is printed once in the stem and the judgement is about the moving-versus-still sticks. Still hard: two ideas chained — moving → mechanical energy (Topic 12), warm-but-still → none — with the belief that the warm sticks "still have it" a live distractor (the whole time). Time-span options of one shape, as Topic 10's type 7.
The lessons (3)
Each lesson in teaching order: its one-line summary, the article, the script and the quiz, then your ruling.
Topic 15 · Lesson 1
Lesson 1 Things that give light are usually warm too
a lamp's old glass bulb is hot after an hour; the same lamp switched off is dark and cool; a candle, a campfire, the Sun; then the glow stick that stays cool.
Topic 15 · Lesson 2
Lesson 2 Light carries energy
a bike seat left in the sunshine is hot; the same bike in the shade of a tree stays cool; a sun stripe on a floor is warm inside and cool beside; a lamp's light warms a stone; a cat finds the warm spot.
Skill: write-like-james @ 8b55b65 · built 6 October 2026 by build_tools_needs_you.py