Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ cb79e2e
Topic 26 — Soil — 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/G3T26.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Ten types for four atoms, one exemplar each — at most two alone-types per atom, plus three pair types. No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying the child, the place, the drawn scatter, the letters and the order of the three soils.
Revised 28 Sep 2026 (night) after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T26_2026-09-28.md): four exemplars were lesson or practice items with a word changed and are re-instanced (R03–R06) — PP-5 now asks for the SANDY soil's jar in Caspian's test with sandy at L; PP-7 sits on its own fragment scatter with the letters K, L, J top to bottom (the dark crumbs are J); PP-2 is the river sand in Gethin's sandbox; PP-3 is a pebble rolled to sand by the waves. PP-1's stem names the bit by its look only (R13); PP-4's key is one clause (R15); PP-8's fourth option is "any of the three soils" (R16); PP-6's claim is reworded (R37); PP-10 is a one-word typed item with a generated accept list (R17); PP-9's accept list is the coined forms only (R24); every blind description states what is drawn, never the kind or the soil (R09). Keys re-spread: D B D B C C A A.
James's rulings applied. Hard items are typed, never MCQs (28 Sep night): two text-entry types — the soil's name from three observations (type 9), and the part of the jar where the bits of rock will be (type 10). Easy and medium are four-option MCQs. Every drawn item is a fresh render (a new lens scatter, a new letter order, a new soil order); no stem leans on a video; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; no item figure carries a chip that names the answer; every exemplar is a fresh instance — no lesson, quiz or practice item with a noun changed (the design-move inventory below names each exemplar's nearest lesson-side instance); no headache character (Meera, Lyle, Kezia, Roshan, Flora) appears; each claim-maker is used once in the topic.
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 = one bit named from its look, one origin recalled, one property read off a drawing; medium = a claim judged (the verdict in the stem, the fact asked), two ideas chained on a drawing (the most rotted layer is the oldest), the rule applied to a fresh purpose (which soil for a pot that drains); hard = the name produced from three observations combined, or two steps (rock bits are the heavy bits; heavy bits sink) ending in a typed place.
The ten types
| Type | Item | Atom | Tag | Form | The stem asks… | The options / the accept | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1 | EAR3-001 | easy | MCQ, drawn | a hand-lens view with one black arrow: what is the pale bit it touches | four things a child might see in soil: a seed / a drop of water / a bit of a dead leaf / a bit of rock | soil from the park, seed 19 |
| 2 | PP-6 | EAR3-001 | medium | MCQ | a named child claims a handful of soil is all one thing, like flour: what is soil really made of | four make-ups: rock only / one stuff with no bits / rock mixed with dead plants and animals / dead plants only | Ottoline's claim |
| 3 | PP-2 | EAR3-002 | easy | MCQ | where named bits of rock (the sand in a sandbox, a pebble, grit) came from | four origins: dead leaves that rotted / bigger rocks that slowly broke apart / seeds that grew / water that dried up | the river sand in Gethin's sandbox |
| 4 | PP-3 | EAR3-002 | easy | MCQ | how long a rock takes to become grit or sand | four times in order: one day / one week / one year / far longer than a person lives | a pebble rolled to sand by the waves |
| 5 | PP-4 | EAR3-003 | easy | MCQ | what happens to a named dead plant or animal left on the ground for a season | four events, one clause each: turns into grit / rots into dark crumbs / stays exactly as it was / vanishes into nothing | Idony's dead sunflower plants, winter to summer |
| 6 | PP-7 | EAR3-003 + EAR3-001 (pair) | medium | MCQ, drawn | the layers strip, its own scatter, letters in its own order: which layer has been there longest | J / K / L / all three the same time | under Sable's hedge; K, L, J top to bottom, so the dark crumbs are J |
| 7 | PP-5 | EAR3-004 | easy | MCQ, drawn | the water test with letters under three jars: which jar is under a named soil | J / K / L / all three jars hold the same | Caspian's test: clay, garden, sandy left to right; the sandy jar (asked) is L |
| 8 | PP-8 | EAR3-004 | medium | MCQ | which soil a child picks for a stated purpose (water to run straight through) | the three soils and "any of the three soils" | Wilder's plant pot |
| 9 | PP-9 | EAR3-004 + EAR3-001 (pair) | hard | text | three observations (pale and gritty; nearly every bit a hard grain of rock; water runs straight through): type the name of the soil | sandy soil · sandy · a sandy soil | Wilhelmina's soil |
| 10 | PP-10 | EAR3-001 + Topic 19's MAT3-007 (pair) | hard | text | soil shaken in a jar of water and left an hour: "the bits of rock will be at the ___ of the jar — type the word" | acc_place("bottom", "floor", "base"): each word bare, with the article, with at / on / down at, and with "of the jar" (27 forms) | a boy's jar |
Hard because (type 9): three observations are combined, and the name is produced, not recognised from a list. Hard because (type 10): two steps — the bits of rock are the heavy bits, and heavy bits sink — and the place is produced. Medium because (type 2): the claim's verdict is in the stem and the student supplies the fact. Medium because (type 6): two ideas chained — the dark crumbs are the rotted leaves, and the most rotted layer is the one that has been there longest. Medium because (type 8): the water-test result is applied to a purpose the lesson never named.
Bank notes for the generator. Type 1: vary the seed and the kind the arrow touches (a pale grain, a dark crumb, the leaf bit, the twig); never two items on one scatter; the stem names what the arrow touches by its look (pale and hard; dark and soft; brown with a line down its middle), never by its kind. Type 3: vary the bit (a grain of sand, a pebble, grit) and the place; the origin options keep one from each of the topic's other ideas (a rotted dead plant) so the sort is real. Type 5: vary the dead thing (leaves, grass cuttings, an apple core, a dead beetle) and the season; every option an event. Types 6 and 7: shuffle the letters' meaning and the order of the three soils per item, so the position is never learnable; the letters stay J, K, L (outside the option alphabet). Type 9: vary which two or three observations are given; the accept list is generated from SOIL_NAME with and without "soil" and the article. Type 10: the reverse (where the bits of dead leaves will be: top) is a second instance of the same type.
Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)
| Atom | Types testing it alone | Pair types |
|---|---|---|
| EAR3-001 what soil is made of | 1, 2 | 6 (with EAR3-003), 9 (with EAR3-004), 10 (with Topic 19's sinks / floats) |
| EAR3-002 the bits of rock come from bigger rocks breaking apart | 3, 4 | — (a pair with EAR3-001 — "which bit in the lens view was once part of a bigger rock" — is a candidate eleventh type; not on this sheet) |
| EAR3-003 the dark crumbs come from dead things rotting | 5 | 6 (with EAR3-001) |
| EAR3-004 tell two soils apart | 7, 8 | 9 (with EAR3-001) |
At most two alone-types per atom. Order in the file: easy PP-1…PP-5 → medium PP-6…PP-8 → hard PP-9, PP-10. Keys of the eight MCQs, in file order: PP-1 D · PP-2 B · PP-3 D · PP-4 B · PP-5 C · PP-6 C · PP-7 A · PP-8 A (two of each letter; the fixed sets J / K / L and the three soils keep their natural order, so their keys land where the instance puts them). Typed items: 2 of 10 on the sheet; in a bank of about fifty, types 9 and 10 supply 12–15 typed items on fresh instances.
Design-move inventory (every move on the page, then the bank's)
| Move (what the student does with what) | Lesson-side instances | Bank exemplar |
|---|---|---|
| name the kind of bit from its look (pale and hard / dark and soft / a leaf) | L01 q2 (Veda's pale bit), q3 (Zelda's leaf bit), q5 (drawn crumb, Magnus), q10 (Ronja's beetle wing), L01-V (drawn grain), PR-2 (drawn leaf), SUMMARY-1 (drawn leaf) | PP-1: soil from the park, seed 19, four options where every lesson item had two or three — a new scatter and a new option set; the stem names the bit by its look (pale), not by the pin test |
| what soil is made of (the two kinds) | L01 q9 (three make-ups), PR-1 (Wilder's tree hole) | PP-6: Ottoline's "all one thing, like a handful of flour" with the verdict in the stem and four make-ups — a different claim from Hester's (L01 q4) and a different move (the fact is supplied, not the verdict) |
| where a bit of rock came from | L02 q2 (Pax's pebble), q4 (Veda's grit), q9, q10 (Ottoline's grains), L02-V (drawn cracked rock), PR-3 (Idony's pebble), SUMMARY-2 (drawn stream) | PP-2: the river sand in Gethin's sandbox — a place no lesson or practice item uses (PR-3 is a pebble on a riverbank), four origins including the rotting distractor |
| how long the breaking takes | L02 q5 (three times), PR-7 (three times) | PP-3: four times in order, a pebble rolled to sand by the waves — the lesson's own cause, asked for its time (L02 q5 and PR-7 both ask a breaking boulder) |
| what a dead thing becomes | L03 q2 (Magnus's apple core), q5, q6 (the beetle), L03-V (a leaf under a bush), PR-10 (which will rot) | PP-4: Idony's dead sunflower plants over a winter — a new dead thing, a season, four events |
| the layers: which is oldest | L03 q4 (under the bush in the park) | PP-7: under Sable's hedge — its own fragment scatter (seed 37), the letters K, L, J top to bottom (L03 q4 has L, J, K), a fourth option |
| which jar is under a named soil (drawn water test) | L04 q7 (garden, clay, sandy; clay = K) | PP-5: Caspian's test asks the SANDY soil's jar (L04 q7 asks clay's), with sandy at L and clay at J; the fourth option "all three hold the same" is the same-soil belief |
| which soil, from stated properties | L04 q2 (Pax), q3 (Dilys), q9 (Saoirse), q5 / L04-V / PR-9 / SUMMARY-3 (drawn cards) | PP-9 (typed): Wilhelmina's three observations, the name produced |
| which soil for a purpose | — (new to the bank) | PP-8: Wilder's pot that should drain |
| where the bits of rock go in the jar | L01 q6 (Dilys's jar, drawn), PR-6 (Thandiwe's jar, drawn) | PP-10 (typed, one word): no drawing; the place produced from two steps; the reverse (leaf bits at the top) is NOT instanced — most, not all, leaf bits float |
| claims (bare yes / no) | L01 q4, q8; L02 q3, q7, q11; L03 q3, q7, q10, q11; L04 q8, q10; PR-4 | none on the sheet as bare claims — a bare claim has two options; the bank's MCQs need four (type 2 carries the claim with the verdict in the stem) |
| the term by recall | L01 q11, q12; L03 q12; L04 q12, q13; PR-12…PR-15 | none — the practice set's job |
No bank exemplar shares a scene with a lesson, quiz or practice item, and no two exemplars share a move.
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · EAR3-001 · easy · drawing lens_pp_grain
Stem: Here is soil from the park under a hand lens. What is the pale bit the black arrow touches?
- a seed
- a drop of water
- a bit of a dead leaf
- a bit of rock ← key
Why: Soil is bits of rock mixed with bits of dead plants and animals. / The bits of rock are pale and hard. / So the pale bit is a bit of rock.
Type 3 — PP-2 · EAR3-002 · easy
Stem: The sand in Gethin's sandbox was brought from a river. Where did the grains of sand come from?
- dead leaves that rotted
- bigger rocks that slowly broke apart ← key
- seeds that grew in the river
- river water that dried up
Why: A grain of sand is a tiny bit of rock. / Bits of rock come from bigger rocks slowly breaking apart. / So the grains came from bigger rocks.
Type 4 — PP-3 · EAR3-002 · easy
Stem: The waves roll a pebble on a beach until it is grains of sand. About how long does that take?
- one day
- one week
- one year
- far longer than a person lives ← key
Why: Bits rub off the pebble very slowly. / A pebble does not turn to sand in a day, a week or a year. / So it takes far longer than a person lives.
Type 5 — PP-4 · EAR3-003 · easy
Stem: Idony's dead sunflower plants lie on the flower bed all winter. What happens to them by summer?
- They turn into grit.
- They rot into dark crumbs. ← key
- They stay exactly as they were.
- They vanish into nothing.
Why: The sunflower plants are dead plants. / Dead plants rot into dark crumbs. / The crumbs mix into the soil. / So by summer they have rotted into dark crumbs in the soil.
Type 7 — PP-5 · EAR3-004 · easy · drawing water_test_pp_JKL
Stem: Caspian pours one full cup of water on each of three soils and waits one minute. Which jar is under the sandy soil?
- J
- K
- L ← key
- All three jars hold the same.
Why: Water runs through sandy soil fast. / So the jar under sandy soil holds the most water. / Jar L holds the most, up to the third mark. / So jar L is under the sandy soil.
Type 2 — PP-6 · EAR3-001 · medium
Stem: Ottoline says a handful of soil is all one thing, like a handful of flour. What is soil really made of?
- bits of rock only
- one stuff with no bits in it
- bits of rock mixed with bits of dead plants and animals ← key
- bits of dead plants only
Why: Under a hand lens, soil is lots of bits. / The pale hard bits are rock. / The dark soft bits are dead plants and animals. / So soil is bits of rock mixed with bits of dead plants and animals.
Type 6 — PP-7 · EAR3-003 + EAR3-001 · medium · drawing layers_pp_JKL
Stem: Here is a cut through the ground under Sable's hedge. Which layer has been there the longest?
- J ← key
- K
- L
- All three the same time.
Why: A dead leaf rots slowly: whole, then bits, then dark crumbs. / The dark crumbs have rotted the longest. / J is the dark crumbs. / So J has been there the longest.
Type 8 — PP-8 · EAR3-004 · medium
Stem: Wilder wants water to run straight through his plant pot when he waters it. Which soil does he fill the pot with?
- sandy soil ← key
- clay soil
- garden soil
- any of the three soils
Why: Water runs through sandy soil fast. / Water sits on top of clay soil, and only some runs through garden soil. / So Wilder fills the pot with sandy soil.
Type 9 — PP-9 · EAR3-004 + EAR3-001 · hard · text entry
Stem: Wilhelmina's soil is pale and gritty. Under a hand lens nearly every bit is a hard grain of rock, and water runs straight through it. Type the name of this kind of soil.
Accept: sandy soil · sandy · a sandy soil
Why: Pale and gritty, mostly grains of rock, water runs through fast. / Those are sandy soil's properties. / So the soil is sandy soil.
Hard because: three observations are combined, and the name is produced, not recognised.
Type 10 — PP-10 · EAR3-001 + MAT3-007 · hard · text entry
Stem: A boy shakes soil in a jar of water and leaves it for an hour. He wants to find the bits of rock. The bits of rock will be at the ___ of the jar. Type the word.
Accept: acc_place("bottom", "floor", "base") — bottom · the bottom · at the bottom · on the bottom · down at the bottom · bottom of the jar · the bottom of the jar · at the bottom of the jar · on the bottom of the jar, and the same nine forms for floor and for base (the grader folds case)
Why: In the jar, the bits of rock sink. / The bits of dead leaves float. / So the bits of rock will be at the bottom of the jar.
Hard because: two steps — the bits of rock are the heavy bits, and heavy bits sink — and the place is produced.