Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ 5a8ea31; typed hard type re-authored under write-mcqs @ 11cce8f (28 Sep 2026, night)
Topic 5 — What a force is — the PP100's eight question types, one exemplar each
What this page is. James approves a bank's question TYPES before the bank is generated (vault: A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each, 28 Sep 2026). This sheet writes ONE exemplar per type in full, exactly as it sits in content/G3T05.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying scene, nouns and numbers, easy-heavy; type 8 carries at most eight.
Changed 28 Sep 2026, night — the hard type is typed. James's ruling: a PP100's hard questions are text entry (or numeric entry when the answer is a number); MCQs stay for the easy and medium bulk. Type 8 was a four-option claim-judgement MCQ (Amara: "a force always comes from a hand"). It is now a text-entry item: a fresh scene shows a pull with nothing touching the object, and the student TYPES the coined word. The old MCQ shape is gone from the sheet; its claim-judging move still lives in the six lesson-quiz claim items (Elin, Hugo, Sofia, Idris, Marco, Tessa). Why type 8 is the hard end: the student produces the word instead of recognising it among four, and has to see that a pull with no hand and no touching is still a force (the lessons' non-hand forces were the apple and the paperclip; the scene is new). Why only ONE typed type: this topic coins one word. "Push" and "pull" are everyday words, and "which object does the force act on" typed would be read straight off the stem — neither is production of anything taught. Topic 4's typed shape (a claim, then "type the name of one metal that…") was considered and not used here: "type one thing other than a hand that can pull" has no closed answer list (a dog, a horse, the wind…), so an exact-match grader would fail true answers.
How to read a type line. Each says what the stem asks, what the four options are (the kind of thing), and gives its example stem. Easy and medium items are four-option MCQs with a why (no per-option feedback in the bank; the engine prints Correct / Not quite); the hard item is text entry with an accept list and a why. Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one one-step judgement; medium = two atoms in one case; hard = the student produces the coined word for a fresh case (typed, James 28 Sep night). No option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; no figure carries an arrow where the answer is a direction. Five of the eight types are the lesson quizzes' own forms widened to four options (James, Topic 3: "reusing the question types that you've used in the mixed mastery and in the individual lessons, but you need there to be four options"); types 6 and 7 test two atoms at a time; type 8 is the typed hard type.
Coverage: every atom alone, and in pairs
| Atom | Alone | With another atom |
|---|---|---|
| FOR3-012 a push or a pull is called a force | type 1 (is it a force — MCQ), type 8 (type the coined word for a fresh pull with nothing touching — TEXT ENTRY, the hard end) | none, on purpose: a "force and push-or-pull" pair item reads as "It is a force, and it is a pull" against "It is not a force" — an artificial shape; James's sizing ("unlikely that you're going to need more than two question types per atom") allows the gap, and the review agreed (S26) |
| FOR3-001 push or pull | type 2 | type 6 (with 008) |
| FOR3-008 acts on one object | type 3 | type 6 (with 001), type 7 (with 006) |
| FOR3-006 which way | type 4, type 5 | type 7 (with 008) |
The eight types
| Type | Item | Atom | Tag | The stem asks… | The four options are… | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1 | FOR3-012 | easy | which of four things done to one object is a force on it | four actions on the same object: one push or pull (a magnet pulling it, Earth pulling it, a hand pressing it) and three that are not (looking, talking, a lamp shining, a shadow falling) | a steel fork on a table |
| 2 | PP-2 | FOR3-001 | easy | which of four everyday actions is a pull (or, in half the bank, a push); the verbs are never "push" or "pull" | four actions in the same shape ("A girl dragging a sack…"); one is the asked kind, three the other kind | leaves, a can, a pot lid, a doorbell |
| 3 | PP-3 | FOR3-008 | easy | which object a named push or pull acts on | the pushed or pulled thing (key), the pusher or puller, "both", and a nearby thing the object touches (the grass, the floor) | a boy and a lawn mower |
| 4 | PP-4 | FOR3-006 | easy | which way a named pull (or push) acts on its object, when the stem gives the action but not the direction | four directions: toward the puller, away from the puller, straight up, straight down (or left / right for a sideways case) | a dad pulling a suitcase |
| 5 | PP-5 | FOR3-006 | easy | in how many directions one described force acts at one time | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 (James's own Q4.2 form, re-instanced so it is never the lesson item) | one flick of a marble |
| 6 | PP-6 | FOR3-001 + 008 | medium | whether the force is a push or a pull, AND what it acts on, in one item ("Is the force a push or a pull, and what does it act on?") | "a pull on the bag" / "a push on the bag" / "a pull on the boy" / "a push on the boy" — two facts, one noun phrase each, no verdict-and-reason | a boy dragging a bag of soccer balls |
| 7 | PP-7 | FOR3-008 + 006 | medium | which of four sentences describes the force: the object it acts on AND its direction | "It acts on the balloon, to the left." and three that change the object or the direction (including "in every direction") | a girl batting a balloon |
| 8 | PP-8 | FOR3-012 | hard · text entry | what a described push or pull on an object is called, in a fresh scene where nothing touches the object (no hand; a magnet or Earth does the pulling); the stem never says "force" | no options — the student types the word; accept list force / a force / the force / forces (the site's grader lower-cases, trims and drops a final period; it keeps articles, so both forms are listed) | a magnet pulling a steel needle up off a table |
Order in the file: easy → medium → hard (PP-1 … PP-8). Keys on the seven MCQs: C A D B A D C — A 2 · B 1 · C 2 · D 2 (PP-8 is typed and has no key letter). Because the draw is ordered easy → medium → hard, the typed term item always sits last, after every stem that prints "force" — the term-recall-last rule holds by construction; the test builder must keep hard items last.
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · FOR3-012 · easy
Stem: A steel fork lies on a table. Which of these is a force on the fork?
- a) a girl looking at the fork
- b) a boy talking about the fork
- c) a magnet pulling the fork toward it ← key
- d) a lamp shining on the fork
Why: A force is a push or a pull on an object. / The magnet pulls the fork, so the magnet's pull is a force. / Looking, talking and shining do not push or pull the fork.
Type 2 — PP-2 · FOR3-001 · easy
Stem: Which of these is a pull?
- a) A girl dragging a sack of leaves across the yard ← key
- b) A boy kicking a can down the street
- c) A child slamming a lid onto a pot
- d) A dad pressing a doorbell
Why: A pull is a force toward the puller. / The girl drags the sack toward herself. / Kicking, slamming and pressing send things away from the pusher, so they are pushes.
Note: the golden pack's Q1.3 ("Which of these is a pull?" — kicking a stone, tugging a fish in, slamming a cupboard) is L02's own quiz item and is not repeated here.
Type 3 — PP-3 · FOR3-008 · easy
Stem: A boy pushes a lawn mower across the grass. Which object does his push act on?
- a) the boy
- b) the grass
- c) both the boy and the mower
- d) the lawn mower ← key
Why: The boy's hands push the lawn mower. / Every force acts on one object. / His push acts on the lawn mower, not on the boy or the grass.
Type 4 — PP-4 · FOR3-006 · easy
Stem: A dad pulls a suitcase along behind him. Which way does his pull act on the suitcase?
- a) away from the dad
- b) toward the dad ← key
- c) straight up
- d) straight down
Why: The dad pulls the suitcase. / A pull is a force toward the puller. / So his pull acts toward the dad.
Type 5 — PP-5 · FOR3-006 · easy
Stem: A boy gives a marble one flick with his finger. How many directions does that one push act in?
- a) 1 ← key
- b) 2
- c) 3
- d) 4
Why: Every force has a direction. / One force acts in one direction at one time. / One flick is one push, so it acts in one direction.
Type 6 — PP-6 · FOR3-001 + FOR3-008 · medium
Stem: A boy drags a big bag of soccer balls onto the field. Is the force a push or a pull, and what does it act on?
- a) a push on the bag
- b) a push on the boy
- c) a pull on the boy
- d) a pull on the bag ← key
Why: The bag moves toward the boy, so the force is a pull. / Every force acts on one object. / The boy's pull acts on the bag. / So the force is a pull on the bag.
Medium because: two atoms in one case — the student sorts the force (pull) and names its object (the bag); either alone is an easy item.
Type 7 — PP-7 · FOR3-008 + FOR3-006 · medium
Stem: A girl bats a balloon to the left with her hand. Which of these describes her push?
- a) It acts on the girl, to the left.
- b) It acts on the balloon, to the right.
- c) It acts on the balloon, to the left. ← key
- d) It acts on the balloon, in every direction.
Why: Her hand pushes the balloon, so the push acts on the balloon. / The balloon goes to the left, so the push acts to the left. / One force acts in one direction.
Medium because: two atoms in one case — the object the force acts on and its direction; every option is one complete sentence of the same shape (no verdict joined to a reason).
Type 8 — PP-8 · FOR3-012 · hard · TEXT ENTRY
Stem: A magnet pulls a steel needle up off the table. No hand touches the needle. What is the magnet's pull on the needle called? Type the word.
Accept: force · a force · the force · forces (exact match after lower-casing, trimming and dropping a final period; no synonym — the lesson taught one word)
Why: The magnet pulls the needle without touching it. / Any push or pull on an object is called a force. / So the magnet's pull is a force.
Hard because: two things at once, with no options to lean on — (1) a transfer: a pull with no hand and nothing touching the object, in a scene the lessons never showed (they showed the apple and the paperclip), must still be read as a push-or-pull on an object; (2) production: the student writes the coined word from memory. The wrong answer the item catches: a student who types "pull" or "magnet" has read the stem back and not named what the lesson coined; one who types nothing or "not a force" has kept the "only hands" idea.
Template, for the freshness check: scene → name the category. L01 q13 is definition → term ("Any push or pull on an object has a name. What is it?"); PR-11 is three named examples → term ("Earth's pull, a magnet's pull, and your push all have the same name…"). Neither prints a scene. The bank's type-8 items vary the scene (Earth pulling a dropped thing down; a magnet pulling a steel thing; the wind pushing something along) and never the lesson's apple, paperclip, door or wagon; at most eight in the bank.
What was here before (struck 28 Sep, night): the four-option claim MCQ "Amara says a force always comes from a hand. Which happening shows a force that comes from something else?" (key: a magnet pulls a steel needle toward it). Its claim-judging move is not lost — the six lesson-quiz claim items carry it — and the generation list of other claims ("a force is only ever a push"; "Earth's pull is not a force because you cannot see it"; "a magnet's pull is not a force because the magnet does not touch the clip") is withdrawn with it. If James wants the claim MCQ back, it returns as a MEDIUM type (medium may be MCQ or typed), not as a hard one.
Reading notes for the review
- The verdict-and-reason option form is not used anywhere. Type 8 is typed, so no option form applies to it.
- Types 6 and 7 are the "two at a time" items James asked for on Topic 3; their options are one noun phrase or one sentence each, all the same shape.
- Scenes here are fresh against the lessons (apple, paperclip and magnet, door, wagon, shouted-at ball; kicked ball, fridge; swing, bat and baseball, wind and leaf; drawer, kite, light bulb), the lesson quizzes (pencil, spoon, book, box, bone, leaf on the sidewalk, plant, pin, Elin, Hugo; crane, sled, straw, gate, shopping cart, rope toy, raindrop, dog's bowl, clay, fish on a line, marble poke, Sofia; toy mouse, stone, horse and cart, soccer ball, key, acorn, stroller, Idris; toy train, toy car, garden hose, wardrobe door, feather, pin and magnet, bottle cap, Marco) and the practice set (nail, bus, toy boat, beach ball, wheelbarrow, pine cone, wooden train, Tessa).
- Not planned: any multi-select; none of these answers is a set. No "you cannot tell" option: every case here decides.
- Numeric option sets (type 5's 1 / 2 / 3 / 4) must render in order; the page builder's shuffle is being extended by the tools owner (review S12).
- Revised 28 Sep 2026 (night) under James's typed-entry ruling: type 8 is text entry (see above); checker S26 (hard items typed) and S11 (typed items carry an accept list) pass; the seven MCQ keys are counted without it. The typed exemplar has NOT yet had a blind read — the earlier cold reads (71 of 71) read the old MCQ; it goes into the next bundle.
- Revised 28 Sep 2026 (evening) after the non-author review: PP-6's stem names what the options are (S24); PP-8 asks positively (S25) and its claimant is Amara (Nadia was in Topic 1's bank — S6/M6); the type-8 generation list no longer reuses Hugo's lesson claim (S21); the FOR3-012 pair gap is stated as a decision (S26).