Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ 58d971a
Topic 14 — Light bounces, bends or soaks in — the PP100's eight question types, with their exemplars
Revised 28 Sep 2026 (night) after the non-author review: PP-1 and PP-4 ask what MOST of the light did; PP-2's key is one clause; PP-4's fourth option is the "a shiny thing makes light" belief; PP-7 gives the appearance only and is now two honest steps.
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/G3T14.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Eight types, eight exemplars, at most two types per atom. No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying scene and nouns, easy-heavy.
James's ruling of 28 Sep (night), applied here: the hard types are TYPED items, not MCQs. Types 7 and 8 are text items with an accept list in the lesson's words (the grader ignores case, articles and a final period); the easy and medium types are four-option MCQs and the bulk of the bank. James's standing reminder: the PP100s with typed hard items are his to re-review.
How to read a type line. Each says what the stem asks, what the options (or the typed answer) are, and gives its exemplar scene. Every MCQ has four options and a why (no per-option feedback in the bank). Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one-step sort of a described case or the fact; medium = the reason for an observation on a fresh case, against a catalogued belief; hard = two steps of the skill, typed. No option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; every option is a happening or a single-statement reason, and exactly one is true of the scene; no item figure is needed on this sheet (every scene is described in one or two sentences); no bank item shows a reference card.
The eight types
| Type | Item | Atom | Tag | The stem asks… | The options / the typed answer are… | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1 | ENE3-013 | easy | a scene is described (sunlight lands on a dull light surface; the place gets brighter); what does the light do when it hits it | four happenings: it bounces off (key) / goes through / soaks in / stops at it; the ask says MOST of the light, since L03 has taught that a little soaks into a white thing | the white wall of a shed and a brighter yard |
| 2 | PP-2 | ENE3-014 | easy | a beam goes at a slant from the air into water; what does most of the light do at the top of the water | four happenings: bends (key) / keeps going straight / bounces back up / soaks into the top — the LGT-09 belief is the second option; the key is one clause like its distractors | a flashlight beam into a swimming pool |
| 3 | PP-3 | ENE3-015 | easy | a dark thing in sunshine is hot; what did most of the light do when it hit it | four happenings: bounced off / went through / soaked in (key) / bent | a black garden bench |
| 4 | PP-4 | ENE3-016 | easy | a described case (a picture seen in a shiny thing; a thing in water looking bent; a hot dark surface); what did the light do | the fixed sort set with a fourth belief: reflected / refracted / absorbed / it was made by the kettle (the LGT-06 belief, the same shape as the others) — exactly one true of the case | a shiny kettle showing Sunita's face (reflected) |
| 5 | PP-5 | ENE3-014 | medium | a thing in water looks bent; why does it look bent | four single-statement reasons; the key is that light from it bent where it left the water; the distractors are the beliefs that the thing itself bends, that the water pushes it, that the curved glass does it | a pencil in a glass of water |
| 6 | PP-6 | ENE3-015 + ENE3-013 (pair) | medium | two things in the same sunshine, one dark and one white; the dark one is warmer; why | four single-statement reasons; the key names what MOST of the light did at the dark one (soaked in); the distractors: the Sun shone more on it, most of the light bounced off it, it made its own warmth | a black garden chair and a white one |
| 7 | PP-7 | ENE3-016 | hard · TEXT | a fresh case is described by its APPEARANCE only (a shell under water looks higher); which word says what the light from it did; type the word | typed: refracted / refraction / refract / it was refracted …; the stem prints neither "bent" nor the term | Ingrid and a shell in a rock pool |
| 8 | PP-8 | ENE3-013 + ENE3-017 (pair; 017 is Topic 13's atom) | hard · TEXT | a boy sees his own face in a shop window; just before the light reaches his eyes, which thing does it come from; type the name of the thing | typed: the window / window / the glass / the shop window …; most students will type "his face" | Rashid and a shop window |
Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)
| Atom | Types testing it alone | Pair types |
|---|---|---|
| ENE3-013 light bounces off (reflection) | 1 | 6 (with 015), 8 (with Topic 13's 017) |
| ENE3-014 light bends (refraction) | 2, 5 | — |
| ENE3-015 light soaks in (absorption) | 3 | 6 (with 013) |
| ENE3-016 sort what light did | 4, 7 | — |
Two types per atom, no more (013 carries one alone-type and two pair-types; the pair with 017 chains this topic's reflection to Topic 13's seeing rule, the chain the catalogue's LGT-07 row asks for). The proposed L01b atom (ENE3-P02, what you see in a mirror) has no type of its own on this sheet: type 8 tests it in the pair, and its lesson quiz carries the rest; if James adopts the atom, one easy MCQ type ("is there a dog behind the mirror") can be added at generation. Order in the file: easy → medium → hard (PP-1 … PP-8). MCQ keys: B A C A B C (six MCQs over four letters; D is empty on the sheet and fills as the bank grows). Typed items carry no key letter. Draw-one-per-test pairs for the generation step: PP-5 with the practice FRQ (a thing in water looks bent: the reason; MCQ vs written); PP-8 with L01b-q2 and L01b-q4 (a picture in a mirror: the chain typed vs the "is there a dog behind it" verdict and the "where does the light come from" MCQ); PP-2 with L02-q6 (a beam into water: described vs drawn). Never in one drawn test (⟂): PP-3 with PP-6 — PP-6's key ("Most of the light soaked into the black chair") is PP-3's key in a sentence (review R31). PP-8's form stands (coordinator, 28 Sep night): its stem must name both candidate nouns, as Topic 13's PP-7 does.
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · ENE3-013 · easy
Stem: Sunlight lands on the white wall of a shed, and the whole yard is a little brighter. What does most of the light do when it hits the wall?
- a) It goes through the wall.
- b) It bounces off the wall. ← key
- c) It soaks into the wall.
- d) It stops at the wall.
Why: Light bounces off the things it hits. / At the white wall, the light bounces off in every direction. / Some of it reaches the rest of the yard, so the yard is brighter.
(The dull white wall, not a mirror, is the exemplar on purpose: the catalogue's LGT-07 row — "only mirrors reflect" — is the belief most children bring, and the generated bank varies the surface: a page, a door, a wall, a shiny pan.)
Type 2 — PP-2 · ENE3-014 · easy
Stem: A flashlight beam goes at a slant from the air into a swimming pool. What does most of the light do at the top of the water?
- a) It bends. ← key
- b) It keeps going straight.
- c) It bounces back up into the air.
- d) It soaks into the top of the water.
Why: Water is see-through, so most of the light goes into it. / Light bends when it goes from one see-through material into another. / So the beam bends where it goes into the water, then travels straight through the water.
Type 3 — PP-3 · ENE3-015 · easy
Stem: A black garden bench stands in the sunshine and is hot to touch. What did most of the light do when it hit the bench?
- a) It bounced off.
- b) It went through.
- c) It soaked in. ← key
- d) It bent.
Why: The bench is a dark surface. / A dark surface soaks up most of the light that lands on it. / The light that soaked in warmed the bench, so it is hot.
Type 4 — PP-4 · ENE3-016 · easy
Stem: A shiny metal kettle shows a picture of Sunita's face. What did most of the light from her face do at the kettle?
- a) It was reflected. ← key
- b) It was refracted.
- c) It was absorbed.
- d) It was made by the kettle.
Why: Light from Sunita's face travels to the shiny kettle. / It bounces off the kettle to her eyes, so she sees a picture of her face. / Light that bounces off was reflected.
Type 5 — PP-5 · ENE3-014 · medium
Stem: A pencil stands in a glass of water and looks bent where it goes into the water. Why does the pencil look bent?
- a) The pencil bends when it gets wet.
- b) Light from the pencil bent where it left the water. ← key
- c) The water pushes the pencil to one side.
- d) The curved glass makes the pencil look bent.
Why: Light from the lower part of the pencil travels up through the water. / Where it leaves the water and goes into the air, it bends. / The bent light reaches your eye, so the pencil looks bent, but the pencil is straight.
Medium because: the reason for an observation on a fresh case, against the belief that the pencil itself bends (the catalogue's refraction misreading). Every option is one statement of the same shape.
Type 6 — PP-6 · ENE3-015 + ENE3-013 · medium
Stem: A black garden chair and a white one stand in the same sunshine, and the black chair is much warmer. Why is the black chair warmer?
- a) The Sun shone more on the black chair.
- b) Most of the light bounced off the black chair.
- c) Most of the light soaked into the black chair. ← key
- d) The black chair made its own warmth.
Why: The same sunlight lands on both chairs. / Most of the light soaks into the black chair, and most bounces off the white chair. / The light that soaks in warms the chair, so the black chair is warmer.
Medium because: two surfaces compared; the reason names what MOST of the light did at each (soaks in vs bounces off), so both atoms are in play.
Type 7 — PP-7 · ENE3-016 · hard · TEXT
Stem: Ingrid looks down at a shell at the bottom of a rock pool. The shell looks higher up than it really is. Which word says what the light from the shell did? Type the word.
Accept: refracted · refraction · refract · it was refracted · was refracted · refracting · the light was refracted
Why: Light from the shell travels up through the water. / Where it leaves the water, it bends, and the bent light reaches Ingrid's eyes. / Light that bends as it goes from one see-through material into another was refracted.
Hard because: two steps — from the appearance (the shell looks higher) to what the light did (it bent leaving the water), then the term is PRODUCED; the stem prints neither "bent" nor the term (review R17: the first draft printed "bent", which did the sorting for the student and echoed PP-5's key sentence). Three sentences, within the hard tag.
Type 8 — PP-8 · ENE3-013 + ENE3-017 · hard · TEXT
Stem: Rashid stands in front of a shop window and sees his own face in the glass. Just before the light reaches his eyes, which thing does it come from? Type the name of the thing.
Accept: the window · window · the glass · glass · the shop window · shop window · from the window · off the window · the window glass · a window
Why: Light lands on Rashid's face and bounces off it. / That light travels to the shop window and bounces off the glass. / Then it reaches his eyes, so he sees a picture of his face in the window.
Hard because: two steps chained — light from his face bounces off the window (013), then reaches his eye (Topic 13's 017) — and most students type "his face"; the key needs the second step. A shop window, not a mirror, so the scene kind differs from the lesson's cat-and-mirror (the same move on a fresh scene kind).
Reading notes for the review
- The verdict-and-reason option form is not used anywhere. Claims in the topic are bare yes / no in the lesson quizzes and practice (Tobias no · Lidia yes · Benji no · Zofia yes · Kiran no · Anwar yes · Jovan no · Fenna yes · Hamid no), never in the bank.
- Typed accept lists hold the lesson's words and their natural typed forms; no synonym the lesson did not teach ("mirror" is not accepted for the window).
- Scenes here are fresh against the lessons (the flat mirror and flashlight; the white wall; the red book; the cat and mirror; the mirror in the dark; the straw, the tank, the coin; the two shirts, the car seat, the road; the pond, the stick, the rock, the spoon, the hat), against the lesson quizzes and against the practice set; the three draw-one-per-test pairs above share a scene kind or a move with one item on a different move or form.
- Not planned: any multi-select; none of these answers is a set. No numeric item: nothing in the topic is a number.
- Names used in this topic: Tobias, Lidia (L01); Kwesi, Marit, Sanjay, Tobias, Wilma, Orson (L01b); Tarun, Delia, Benji, Zofia (L02); Kiran, Anwar (L03); Lidia, Marit, Jovan, Priyanka, Kwesi, Fenna (L04); Mirela, Lotte (intro and summary); Hamid, Elodie (practice); Sunita, Ingrid, Rashid (bank). Checked by grep against every other topic's content files: none collides.