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Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ 7d612db

Topic 7 — Pushes and pulls change things — the PP100's eight question types, with their exemplars

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 the exemplars in full, exactly as they sit in content/G3T07.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Eight types, nine exemplars (type 6 carries two forms so the fair-test atom pairs with the path atom and with the shape atom). No other bank item exists yet.

Revised 28 Sep 2026 (night) after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T07_2026-09-28.md): the typed hard items no longer print their answer (PP-8) or ask the student to doubt Lesson 1 (PP-9 now changes the floor's slope, which can roll a car by itself); type 6's second form is the L05 quiz's "Which one thing did she change?" at four options; PP-3's options carry no outcome word and no floppy hose; PP-6's four plans are framed alike; PP-5's scene is a plastic bottle, not the lesson's boat.

The hard end is typed (James, 28 Sep 2026, night). "PP100s can have text entry or numeric entry… prioritize text entry as a sort of harder question type… prioritize easy questions." So types 1–6 are four-option MCQs (the bulk, easy and medium) and types 7 and 8 — the two hard types — are TEXT ENTRY: the student produces the thing (the part of the brother that stopped the ball; the second thing a test changed). Their accept lists are GENERATED by hands_accept() and slope_accept() beside the page grader's normalisation (which folds case, a curly apostrophe, a final period and spaces, and nothing else), so every article, possessive and apostrophe-less form a child types is in the list and no synonym the lesson did not teach is. Nothing in this topic is numerical, so no numeric-entry type is planned.

Generation plan. Types 7 and 8 yield 6–8 items each (12–16 typed, the hard tier); types 1, 2 and 4 yield the easy bulk (about 24); types 3, 5 and 6 the medium (about 12). About fifty in all, fresh scenes throughout.

How to read a type line. Each says what the stem asks, what the four options are (the kind of thing) or what the student types, and gives its exemplar scene. Every MCQ item has a why (no per-option feedback in the bank; the engine prints Correct / Not quite). Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one-step fact or sort; medium = a fresh case that needs two ideas, or the four-way sort; hard = a judgement, typed. No option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; no item figure carries an arrow, a verdict or a motion path; no bank item shows a reference list or the fair-test card.

The eight types

TypeItemsAtomTag · formThe stem asks…The options are… / the student types…Exemplar scene
1PP-1FOR3-002easy · MCQa still thing, and either a push or pull is named or nobody touches it: what does it dofour happenings: starts moving / stays still / slides a little then stops / turns; exactly one fitsa sled on flat snow, nobody pushes or pulls it
2PP-2FOR3-003easy · MCQa moving thing, and a push or pull AGAINST the way it moves: what happensfour happenings: slows down / rolls faster / keeps rolling the same way / changes shapea roller skate rolling into a girl's foot
4PP-3FOR3-005easy · MCQwhich of four described pushes or pulls changes a thing's SHAPEfour forces on everyday things, none naming its outcome; one changes a shape, three change the way a thing movesa chair, a ball, a door, a marshmallow
3PP-4FOR3-004medium · MCQa rolling thing is pushed from one NAMED side: which way does it go nowfour paths: keeps going straight / off to the left / off to the right / back the way it camea soccer ball pushed from its right side
5PP-5FOR3-002 + 003 + 004 + 005 (every pair among the four)medium · MCQone scene: which change did the push or pull makethe fixed set: it started moving / it slowed down or stopped / it changed direction / it changed shapea plastic bottle rolling on a picnic table, pushed from the side
6PP-6, PP-7FOR3-007 (form A with 004; form B with 005)medium · MCQform A: a child wants to find out one thing — which of four test plans, all framed "X, then Y", is a fair test; form B: a described two-run test — which one thing did she changeA: four plans, one changes only the side push; B: four things (the sponge / the table / the push / the day), one is what changedA: Olu's rolling-ball test; B: Yara's two sponges
7PP-8FOR3-003 (+ 002)hard · TEXTa ball is caught; a named child claims its push ran out (the register's misconception): what really stopped it — type the PART of the catcher that pushed against ittyped: "his hands" (generated: hands / hand × — / the / his / her brother's / her little brother's / the brother's / the boy's / both his / his two, with and without the apostrophe — 36 forms)Sana's ball, caught by her little brother
8PP-9FOR3-007 + 002hard · TEXTa test that changed TWO things, the second of which can move a car by itself; the child says the push did it: what was the other thing — type ittyped: "the slope" (generated: slope / sloping floor / floor that slopes (down) / slope of the floor / ramp / floor / sloped floor / hill × — / the / a)Amos's car on a flat floor, then on a floor that slopes down toward the mark

Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)

AtomTypes testing it alonePair types
FOR3-002 a push or pull starts things moving15 (with 003, 004, 005), 7 (with 003: "its push ran out"), 8 (with 007: a slope moves a car by itself)
FOR3-003 a push or pull can slow or stop things2, 75 (with 002, 004, 005), 7 (with 002)
FOR3-004 a push or pull can change direction35 (with 002, 003, 005), 6 form A (with 007)
FOR3-005 a push or pull can change shape45 (with 002, 003, 004), 6 form B (with 007)
FOR3-007 a fair test6 (both forms), 86 A (with 004), 6 B (with 005), 8 (with 002)

Every row has a type alone and at least one pair; every pair among the four change atoms is inside type 5's option set (each type-5 item discriminates all four). Order in the file: easy → medium → hard (PP-1 … PP-9). MCQ keys: B A D B C A C (no letter over 35 %); PP-8 and PP-9 are typed.

The exemplars, in full

Type 1 — PP-1 · FOR3-002 · easy

Stem: A sled sits still on flat snow, and nobody pushes or pulls it. What does the sled do?

Why: The sled is still. / Nothing pushes or pulls it. / With no push or pull, a still thing stays still. / So the sled stays still.

(The "switch-off" case the vault asks for: a still thing with no force named. The bank also takes this type with a push or pull named, keyed "It starts moving.")


Type 2 — PP-2 · FOR3-003 · easy

Stem: A roller skate rolls across the floor, and a girl's foot pushes against its front. What happens to the skate?

Why: The skate rolls toward her foot. / Her foot pushes against its front, against the way it moves. / A push against the way a thing moves slows it down, or stops it. / So the skate slows down and stops.


Type 4 — PP-3 · FOR3-005 · easy

Stem: Which of these changes a thing's shape?

Why: The chair, the ball and the door keep their shapes; the pushes and pulls change the way they move. / The marshmallow gets squashed when you press on it. / So pressing on the marshmallow changes its shape.


Type 3 — PP-4 · FOR3-004 · medium

Stem: A soccer ball rolls straight along the field, and a girl's foot pushes it from its right side. Which way does the ball go now?

Why: The ball rolls straight. / Her foot pushes it from its right side. / A push acts away from the pusher, so the push sends the ball to the left. / The ball goes off to the left.

Medium because: two ideas at once — a push from the side changes direction (this topic), and a push acts away from the pusher (Topic 5, and now stated in L03's own frame), so the side named decides the new way.


Type 5 — PP-5 · FOR3-002 + 003 + 004 + 005 · medium

Stem: A plastic bottle rolls across the picnic table, and a boy's hand pushes it from the side, so it rolls off a new way. Which change did his push make?

Why: The bottle was already rolling. / His hand pushed it from the side. / It rolled off a new way, so his push changed its direction.

Medium because: the four-way sort across the topic's four changes, on a fresh scene; the bank keys this type on each of the four in turn.


Type 6, form A — PP-6 · FOR3-007 (+ 004) · medium

Stem: Olu wants to find out if a push from the side changes a rolling ball's path. Which test is a fair test?

Why: A fair test changes one thing and keeps everything else the same. / Olu wants to know what the push from the side does, so only that push may change. / The same ball from the same line, with and without the push, changes only the push.

Medium because: the student applies the one rule (change one thing) to four plans framed alike and must see two things changing in two of them and no change in the fourth.


Type 6, form B — PP-7 · FOR3-007 (+ 005) · medium

Stem: To find out what a push does to a sponge, Yara takes two sponges just the same on the same table, presses one and leaves the other alone. Which one thing did Yara change?

Why: The sponges and the table were the same. / One sponge got a push and the other did not. / So the push is the one thing Yara changed.

Medium because: the rule read off a described test — the student names the one changed thing among four, on a shape test rather than a motion test.


Type 7 — PP-8 · FOR3-003 (+ 002) · hard · text entry

Stem: Sana rolls a ball across the floor to her little brother, and he catches it. Sana says the ball stopped because its push ran out. What really stopped the ball? Type the part of him that pushed against the ball.

Accept (generated by hands_accept()): hands · hand · the hands · the hand · his hands · his hand · her brother's hands · her brother's hand · her little brother's hands · her little brother's hand · the brother's hands · the brother's hand · the boy's hands · the boy's hand · both his hands · his two hands — and each possessive form without its apostrophe.

Why: A ball does not carry a push inside it that can run out. / Her brother's hands pushed against the ball, against the way it moved. / A push against the way a thing moves stops it. / So his hands stopped the ball.

Hard because: the student must reject the register's misconception ("its push ran out"), stated as a child's claim, and PRODUCE the pusher — a word the stem does not print ("catches", not "hands"). Typed, as James asked for the hard end.


Type 8 — PP-9 · FOR3-007 + 002 · hard · text entry

Stem: Amos wants to know what a push does to his toy car. Run one: no push, on a flat floor. Run two: a push, on a floor that slopes down toward the mark. The car rolled to the mark, and Amos says the push made it roll. Amos changed two things. One was the push. What was the other? Type it.

Accept (generated by slope_accept()): slope · sloping floor · floor that slopes · floor that slopes down · slope of the floor · ramp · floor · sloped floor · hill — each bare, with "the" and with "a".

Why: Amos changed two things: the push, and the slope of the floor. / A car can roll down a slope with no push. / So Amos cannot tell whether the push or the slope made the car roll. / A fair test changes only one thing.

Hard because: the student judges the test's design (two things changed, and the second one CAN roll a car by itself — Topic 3's falling and rolling) against the child's claim and names the second thing. Four sentences, so hard by the stem rule too.


Reading notes for the review