Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ a5ff054 (revised after the non-author review, 28 Sep 2026 night)
Topic 11 — Energy: what has it, how it travels — the PP100's ten 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/G3T11.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Ten types for six atoms: no atom has more than two types of its own, and every atom is tested alone and in a pair (the coverage table below has no empty row). Types 1, 4, 6 and 7 carry second forms so that the pairs and the typed tier have a type. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying scene and nouns, easy-heavy.
Revised 28 Sep 2026 (night) after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T11_2026-09-28.md): every exemplar is now a FRESH instance — no lesson scene, no quiz scene and no quiz option reappears here (James, Topic 3: reuse the types, use different examples). The hard tier was recast: the old phrase-answer item (the iron's sign) and the colour item (which printed both colours in its stem) are withdrawn; the hard tier is three one-term typed forms, so a bank of fifty can carry 12–18 typed items without near-duplicates.
The hard end is typed (James, 28 Sep 2026, night): "hard questions would be text entry or even numeric entry." Types 9 and 10 and type 1's typed form are text items with short accept lists written beside the page grader's norm (it lowercases, strips a final period and folds spaces; it does not strip articles, so each list carries the bare word and its "the" form). The student produces the term instead of picking it. The easy and medium types are four-option MCQs and are the bulk of the sheet. No numeric type: nothing in this topic is a number the student computes (the one-second distances are drawn, and the answer is which boat, not how far).
How to read a type line. Each says what the stem asks, what the four options are (the kind of thing), and gives its exemplar scene. Every MCQ has a why (no per-option feedback in the bank; the engine prints Correct / Not quite). Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = the fact or a one-step sort; medium = two ideas chained on a fresh case, or the register's misconception case with the full option set; hard = one term produced, not picked. No option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; no item figure carries a chip or a verdict; no bank item shows the sort card or the four-signs card; no stem runs to three sentences; no stem prints its answer.
The ten types
| Type | Items | Atom | Tag | Form | The stem asks… | The four options are… | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1; typed form PP-15 | ENE3-001; typed form 001 + 002 | easy; hard | MCQ; text | in which of four described scenes energy is at work; typed form: three signs happen at once — what is the word for what makes them happen | four scenes, three doing nothing (still, cold, dark, quiet) and one showing a sign — the key a still-but-warm thing, so the "nothing moving = no energy" belief is caught; typed: accept energy | a spoon, a coat rack, a cold mug, an oven warming a pie · a pizza in an oven, a yo-yo, a guitar |
| 2 | PP-2 | ENE3-002 | easy | MCQ | a wind-up toy's spring has no more energy to give: what does the toy do | four happenings; the key is that it stops | a wind-up penguin |
| 3 | PP-3 | ENE3-003 | easy | MCQ | which of four things is making a sound (other instances: giving light / warming something) | four everyday things; exactly one is of the asked kind | a car horn, a porch light, a mug of cocoa, a lantern |
| 4 | PP-4; medium form PP-12 | ENE3-003 + 001 | easy; medium | MCQ | what the energy is doing in a described scene; medium form: the same ask on a still, hot thing (the register's misconception case) | the four signs: moving something / giving light / warming something / making a sound | a slow cooker with a stew · a hot iron standing still on a shirt |
| 5 | PP-5 | ENE3-004 | easy | MCQ | which of four things has mechanical energy | four things; three still, one moving | a bench, a bucket, a parked truck, a running puppy |
| 6 | PP-6; second form PP-7 | ENE3-005; second form 005 + 002 | easy | MCQ | how the energy reaches a plugged-in thing; second form: the plug comes out of a working thing — what happens | four routes (through the air / along the cord / along the floor / from the switch); second form: four happenings | a plugged-in wall clock · a playing keyboard whose plug is pulled |
| 7 | PP-8; second form PP-9; third form PP-10 | ENE3-034; 034 + 004; 034 + Topic 2's MOT3-024 | easy; easy; medium | MCQ | two matching things, one faster: which has more energy; second form: the same speed, asked as mechanical energy; third form: the two one-second distances DRAWN as lanes | the two named things / both the same / neither has energy | two wagons · two go-karts at the same speed · two toy boats at 3 m and 1 m in one second (drawn) |
| 8 | PP-11 | ENE3-034 + 002 | medium | MCQ | why the faster of two matching marbles pushes a cup farther | four single-statement reasons | marbles and a paper cup |
| 9 | PP-13 | ENE3-005 | hard | text | a plugged-in thing works: what travels along the cord and carries energy to it — type the word | typed; accept electricity / the electricity | a washing machine |
| 10 | PP-14 | ENE3-004 + 034 | hard | text | two matching things move, one fast and one slow: what kind of energy do both have — type its name | typed; accept mechanical energy / mechanical / the mechanical energy | two hoops rolling across a playground |
Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)
| Atom | Types testing it alone | Pair types |
|---|---|---|
| ENE3-001 spot energy at work | 1 | 4 (with 003), 4 medium form (with 003), 1 typed form (with 002) |
| ENE3-002 energy makes things happen | 2 | 6 second form (with 005), 8 (with 034), 1 typed form (with 001) |
| ENE3-003 light, sound or warming | 3 | 4 and 4 medium form (with 001) |
| ENE3-004 mechanical energy | 5 | 7 second form (with 034), 10 typed (with 034) |
| ENE3-005 electricity carries energy | 6, 9 typed | 6 second form (with 002) |
| ENE3-034 faster means more energy | 7 | 7 second form (with 004), 7 third form (with MOT3-024, drawn), 8 (with 002), 10 typed (with 004) |
Order in the file: easy (PP-1 … PP-9) → medium (PP-10 … PP-12) → hard, typed (PP-13 … PP-15). MCQ keys: D C A B D B A B C A D B (A 3 · B 4 · C 2 · D 3 of twelve; no letter over 35 % of the fifteen items).
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · ENE3-001 · easy
Stem: In which of these is energy at work?
- a) A spoon lies in a drawer.
- b) A coat rack stands in a hall.
- c) A cold, empty mug sits on a shelf.
- d) An oven warms a pie. ← key
Why: The oven is warming the pie. / Warming up is a sign of energy at work. / The spoon, the coat rack and the mug do nothing: nothing moves, warms up, gives light or makes a sound. / So energy is at work in the oven.
Type 2 — PP-2 · ENE3-002 · easy
Stem: A wind-up penguin's spring has no more energy to give. What does the penguin do?
- a) It waddles faster.
- b) It turns round and comes back.
- c) It stops. ← key
- d) It jumps up.
Why: The spring gave its energy to the penguin's legs, and the penguin waddled. / Now the spring has no more energy to give. / Nothing moves the legs. / So the penguin stops.
Type 3 — PP-3 · ENE3-003 · easy
Stem: Which of these is making a sound?
- a) a honking car horn ← key
- b) a glowing porch light
- c) a warm mug of cocoa
- d) a lit lantern
Why: The horn honks, and its sound carries energy to your ears. / The porch light and the lantern are giving light. / The warm cocoa is warming something. / So the car horn is the one making a sound.
Type 4 — PP-4 · ENE3-003 + 001 · easy
Stem: A slow cooker is on with a stew inside. What is the energy doing?
- a) giving light
- b) warming something ← key
- c) moving something
- d) making a sound
Why: The slow cooker is on. / The warm cooker gives some of its energy to the stew, and the stew warms up. / So the energy is warming something.
Type 4, medium form — PP-12 · ENE3-001 + 003 · medium
Stem: A hot iron stands still on a shirt. What is the energy doing?
- a) making a sound
- b) warming something ← key
- c) giving light
- d) moving something
Why: The iron stands still, so it is not moving. / But the hot iron gives some of its energy to the shirt, and the shirt warms up. / So the energy is warming something, even though nothing moves.
Medium because: the register's misconception case (a still thing) asked with the full sign set — the student must pass over "moving something" for a thing that visibly does not move and still say energy is at work.
Type 5 — PP-5 · ENE3-004 · easy
Stem: Which of these has mechanical energy?
- a) a bench in a park
- b) a bucket by a door
- c) a truck parked in a lot
- d) a puppy running across a yard ← key
Why: The bench, the bucket and the parked truck are not moving. / The puppy runs, so the puppy is moving. / A moving thing has mechanical energy. / So the puppy has mechanical energy.
Type 6 — PP-6 · ENE3-005 · easy
Stem: A wall clock is plugged in, and its hands turn. How does the energy reach the clock?
- a) through the air
- b) along the cord ← key
- c) along the floor
- d) from the switch
Why: The clock's cord is plugged into the outlet. / Electricity travels along the cord. / Electricity carries energy along the cord to the clock.
Type 6, second form — PP-7 · ENE3-005 + 002 · easy
Stem: A boy pulls the plug of a playing keyboard out of the outlet. What happens to the tune?
- a) It stops. ← key
- b) It gets louder.
- c) It keeps playing the same.
- d) It plays faster.
Why: The plug is out of the outlet. / No electricity travels along the cord. / No energy reaches the keyboard. / So the tune stops.
Type 7 — PP-8 · ENE3-034 · easy
Stem: Two matching wagons, one red and one blue, roll along the sidewalk, and the red wagon rolls faster. Which wagon has more energy?
- a) the blue wagon
- b) the red wagon ← key
- c) both the same
- d) neither wagon has energy
Why: The two wagons match. / The red wagon is faster. / Of two matching things, the faster one has more energy. / So the red wagon has more energy.
Type 7, second form — PP-9 · ENE3-034 + 004 · easy
Stem: Two matching go-karts drive round a track at the same speed. Which has more mechanical energy?
- a) the yellow go-kart
- b) the black go-kart
- c) both the same ← key
- d) neither has mechanical energy
Why: Both go-karts are moving, so both have mechanical energy. / They match, and they go at the same speed. / Two matching things at the same speed have the same energy.
Type 7, third form — PP-10 · ENE3-034 + MOT3-024 · medium · figure q_boats_speed
[Drawing: two lanes marked 0 to 5 m; the white boat at 0 and again at 3 after one second; the red boat at 0 and again at 1 after one second]
Stem: The drawing shows how far two matching toy boats went in one second. Which boat has more energy?
- a) the white boat ← key
- b) the red boat
- c) both the same
- d) neither boat has energy
Why: Both boats moved for one second. / The white boat went farther in that second, so the white boat is faster. / Of two matching things, the faster one has more energy. / So the white boat has more energy.
Medium because: two steps — Topic 2's "farther in the same time means faster", read off the drawing, then "faster means more energy".
Type 8 — PP-11 · ENE3-034 + 002 · medium
Stem: Two matching marbles roll into a paper cup one at a time. Why does the faster marble push the cup farther?
- a) The faster marble is closer to the cup.
- b) The cup got lighter.
- c) The slower marble has more energy.
- d) The faster marble has more energy. ← key
Why: Of two matching things, the faster one has more energy. / Energy is what makes things happen. / More energy, more happens. / So the faster marble pushes the cup farther.
Medium because: the student picks the reason for a stated outcome, chaining "faster means more energy" with "energy is what makes things happen".
Type 9 — PP-13 · ENE3-005 · hard · TEXT ENTRY
Stem: A washing machine is plugged in, and its drum turns round. What travels along the cord and carries energy to the washing machine? Type the word.
Accept: electricity · the electricity
Why: The washing machine's cord is plugged into the outlet. / Electricity travels along the cord. / Electricity carries energy along the cord to the washing machine, and the drum turns.
Hard because: the carrier is produced, not picked, and the stem never says it. The generated bank varies the plugged-in thing (a fridge, a printer, a night-light, a hairdryer) and never uses the lessons' lamp, toaster, fan or speaker.
Type 10 — PP-14 · ENE3-004 + 034 · hard · TEXT ENTRY
Stem: Two matching hoops roll across the playground, one fast and one slow. Both are moving. What kind of energy do both hoops have? Type its name.
Accept: mechanical energy · mechanical · the mechanical energy
Why: Both hoops are moving. / A moving thing has mechanical energy. / So both hoops have mechanical energy, and the faster hoop has more of it.
Hard because: the term is produced on a two-thing scene that also carries the topic's comparison; the student names the kind of energy rather than picking a thing.
Type 1, typed form — PP-15 · ENE3-001 + 002 · hard · TEXT ENTRY
Stem: A pizza warms up in an oven, a yo-yo goes up and down, and a guitar plays. Something makes all three happen. What is it called? Type the word.
Accept: energy · the energy
Why: The pizza warms up, the yo-yo moves, and the guitar makes a sound. / Warming up, moving and making a sound are signs of energy at work. / What makes things happen like this is called energy.
Hard because: the topic's coined word is produced from three signs at once, with no option list; the practice set's typed term item models the same move on one sign.
Draw constraints for the bank (the ⟂ list; the test builder reads it)
- The typed mechanical energy items (type 10) are never drawn into a test alongside an MCQ whose stem or options print the words "mechanical energy" (types 5 and 7's second form): a student would copy the term from the page. In the exemplar set: PP-14 ⟂ PP-5, PP-9.
- The typed energy item (type 1's typed form) cannot be shielded the same way — "energy" is in almost every stem of the topic. The cold reader (28 Sep night) flagged it: a student who scrolls back types the word. James's call: keep it as the cheapest typed form, or strike it and let the bank's typed share rest on types 9 and 10 (electricity; mechanical energy) with more instances each. Recommendation: strike it if the platform shows the bank one item at a time with no scrolling back, keep it otherwise as a low-value gate.
- Type 3 (which of these is making a sound) is the lightest type on the sheet — a child can answer it from everyday knowledge, not the topic; the cold reader said so. Keep it as the atom's own easy sort (ENE3-003: "sort everyday examples by what you can spot the energy doing"), but generate at most four of fifty from it and keep the asked kind rotating.
Reading notes for the review
- The verdict-and-reason option form is not used anywhere. The two claim items of each lesson quiz are bare yes / no; the bank asks positively (which scene, what happens, why, which thing, what travels along the cord).
- Type 1's key is deliberately a still-but-warm thing in its exemplar; the generated bank varies the sign (a lit porch light, a ringing phone, a rolling hoop) and keeps at least a third of its type-1 items on a still-but-warm or still-but-lit key, because that is where the register's misconception lives. Type 4's medium form is that misconception with the full sign set.
- Type 3's generated items rotate the asked kind (giving light / making a sound / warming something) with fresh things; two-sign things (a campfire, the sun, a stove burner, a candle asked as warming) are never an option or a case.
- Type 7's distractor "neither has energy" is the register's third misconception (a battery-run fan "has no energy until its blades move") turned into an option; both things in every type-7 item are moving. Type 7's third form always DRAWS the two one-second distances (James's Type (a) rule: a comparison is drawn, never two numbers in prose).
- Nothing needs a calculation. No multi-select; none of these answers is a set.
- Every exemplar scene is fresh against the lessons (kitchen kettle, fan, lamp, radio; wind-up frog, battery car, pan; flashlight, drum, heater, candle, whistle, bath, bell; soccer ball and cone, swing, top, bird, parked bike; desk lamp and cord, toaster, fan, speaker, battery fan; two cars and boxes, two balls, the bike on two days, marbles at 1 m and 3 m), against the quizzes (toaster, bike, book, bell, candle, bath, still ball, rock, desk lamp, iron [Bodhi's claim asks yes / no; PP-12 asks the sign with four options — a different move on the register's own case], wind-up mouse, robot, train, music box, night-light, blanket, doorbell, trumpet, headlights, radiator, lighthouse, hot-water bottle, dog, marble, parked car, chair, running girl, leaf, book, picture, river, coin, ladder / kite / hat, fan blades, night-light, toaster cord, unplugged fan, kettle, TV, battery-car wire, radio, skateboards, trains, marbles, balls A and B, scooter, cars drawn, sleds) and against the practice set (school bell, phone screen, bike, hairdryer, trucks, chick, cup of tea, flag / mailbox / fence post, electric kettle, planes drawn, the tractors written answer). The typed practice terms (energy; mechanical) share their move with PP-14 and PP-15 by design: the format ladder asks for key terms by recall in the practice set, and the bank's typed tier asks the same terms on fresh scenes.
- Names used in this topic: Bodhi, Rafi, Noa, Enzo, Laila, Cato, Remi, Lior, Aya, Wes, Juno, Tove, Pia, Teo (quizzes); none in the practice set or the bank. Each was grepped as a whole word across every Grade 3 content module and record before use: zero hits.