Topic 22 How to sort the solar system — what needs James (17)

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 1 · tests SPA5-040

EasyMCQType 1 — what every planet travels around; the shape every planet has; what "its own orbit" means; how many large balls travel on one planet's orbit

What does every one of the eight planets travel around?

1. a) Earth
2. b) the Sun ← key
3. c) the Moon
4. d) Jupiter

Why it is this type: Every planet is a large round ball that travels around the Sun on its own orbit. So every one of the eight planets travels around the Sun.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 2 · tests SPA5-040

EasyMCQType 2 — which of four named things is a planet; which is true of a named planet; which fact keeps the Moon from being a planet; what makes tiny Mercury a planet

Uranus is far from the Sun and very cold. Which of these is true of Uranus?

1. a) It travels around Earth once a year.
2. b) It is a small lumpy rock, not round.
3. c) It makes its own light, like a star.
4. d) It travels around the Sun on its own orbit. ← key

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 3 · tests SPA5-041

MediumMCQType 3 — which of four named planets is an inner (outer) planet; which planet could a described one be; the circled planet on a drawn row

Here is the row of eight planets from the Sun, with one planet circled. Which of these is true of the circled planet?

1. a) It is an inner planet, small and made of rock. ← key
2. b) It is an outer planet, big and made of gas.
3. c) It is a moon of another planet.
4. d) It is an asteroid in the wide ring. (figure pp_row_ring_2: grey discs at the relative sizes, the second circled; the blind text says which disc is circled and nothing else ("ringed" was read as Saturn by both cold readers, 8 Oct); nearest: Lesson 2 (Inner planet or outer planet?), question 1, Venus from its place, two options)

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 4 · tests SPA5-041

MediumMCQType 4 — what the four nearest are called; what every inner (outer) planet is made of; where a lander can touch down; what is under Neptune's clouds

A rocket is sent to Neptune. What will the people on board find under Neptune's clouds?

1. a) a hard rocky surface to walk on
2. b) an ocean of salt water
3. c) a layer of soft sand
4. d) more gas and ice, with no rocky surface. *(the register's belief met as a transfer, not a claim; nearest: Lesson 2 (Inner planet or outer planet?), question 7, the girl's Saturn claim as yes
5. e) no)*

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 5 · tests SPA5-042

EasyMCQType 5 — what an asteroid is made of, travels around, where most are, its size, its shape, the biggest ones; what tells an asteroid from Mars

A rocket is sent to visit as many asteroids as it can. Where should it fly to find most of them?

1. a) to the space between the Sun and Mercury
2. b) to the wide ring between Mars and Jupiter ← key
3. c) to the space around Earth
4. d) to the dark far past Neptune

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 6 · tests SPA5-043

MediumMCQType 6 — what a comet is made of, travels around, when it grows its tail, what the tail is made of; what happens near the Sun; the correct reason for the tail; why a comet faded

A bright comet hung over Chicago for a few weeks in 1997, then faded away. Why did it fade?

1. a) It fell into the Sun and burned up.
2. b) It turned into an asteroid of rock.
3. c) The Moon moved in front of it.
4. d) Its orbit carried it far from the Sun again. ← key

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 7 · tests SPA5-044

MediumMCQType 7 — which two questions sort an object; which object makes its own light; which question tells a moon from a planet

A round ball travels around Neptune, and another round ball travels around the Sun. Which question tells which one is the moon?

1. a) What does it travel around? ← key
2. b) What is it made of?
3. c) How big is it?
4. d) How bright is it?

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 8 · tests SPA5-044

MediumMCQType 8 — a described object: which kind is it (a lump of rock as wide as a town between Mars and Jupiter; ice and dust on a stretched orbit; Titan around Saturn; a comet far from the Sun with no tail; a round ball of ice and rock around Jupiter)

A round ball named Titan travels around Saturn. What is Titan?

1. a) a planet
2. b) a moon ← key
3. c) an asteroid
4. d) a comet

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 9 · tests SPA5-044

MediumMCQType 9 — an orbit drawing (the thing in the middle, a dashed circle, the object on it): which kind is the object

Here is a drawing of an object and the thing it travels around. Which kind of object is it?

1. a) a planet
2. b) a moon
3. c) an asteroid
4. d) a comet. (figure pp_card_tail_sun: the Sun in the middle, a dashed circle, a pale lump with a tail streaming away from the middle; the blind text describes the drawing and never the class; nearest: PR-10, the ball around Mars)

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 10 · tests SPA5-043

HardtypedType 10 — the number of inner planets; the name for a described lump of rock / lump of ice and dust / ball around Jupiter; the stuff an asteroid (a comet) is made of; the one object that makes its own light

A comet is a lump of frozen stuff mixed with dust. Type the one word for the frozen stuff.

Accepted answers (typed): ice, ices, frozen water, water ice.

Why it is this type: Hard because: the material is produced, not picked from a set.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 22 · How to sort the solar system · Type 11 · tests SPA5-044

HardMCQType 11 — Tobias's claim is wrong: what is the correct reason

Tobias is wrong to say everything bright in the night sky is a star. What is the correct reason?

1. a) A planet makes its own light, like a star.
2. b) Planets shine with light from the Sun. ← key
3. c) Stars are too far away for anyone to see.
4. d) The Moon is the only bright thing at night.

Why it is this type: Hard because: the belief is judged by its reason.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar