Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ cb79e2e
Topic 29 — The Sun — the PP100's nine 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/G3T29.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Nine types for three fact atoms, one exemplar each — under the ceiling of ten, because three facts give few honest moves and padding a fact with a stranger scene is what James ruled out. No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying the framing (who asks, what is pointed at, which warm thing), the scene and the names, easy-heavy.
James's rulings applied. Hard items are typed, never MCQs (28 Sep night): two text-entry types (the one daytime thing that is the same kind of thing as the night-time stars — Sun; the kind of matter the Sun is made of — gas). There is no numeric type: nothing in this topic is counted or read off a scale, and a forced number ("how many Earths across?") would be a recall of one figure's chip. Easy and medium are four-option MCQs. No stem leans on a video; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; no headache character (Jax, Cassia, Piet) appears in an item; every claim-maker is used once in the topic; every exemplar is a fresh instance — no lesson, quiz or practice scene reappears (the design-move inventory at the foot is the check). Nothing James has rejected appears here.
Revised 29 September 2026 after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T29_2026-09-29.md): PP-7 was Topic 15 L02's attached item with one word changed and now sits on a metal mailbox (R2); PP-3's option set, PP-8's framing and PP-5's options are re-instanced (R3, R7, R8); PP-2's fourth option is the blue sky (R13); type 9's hard-because line names the step (R19). Names re-checked course-wide (R1).
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 fact recognised in a fresh framing; medium = the fact applied to sort fresh cases (which of four makes its own light; which of four was warmed by the Sun) or to relate two things (the Sun and the night-time stars); hard = two ideas chained and the answer produced, not recognised.
The nine types
| Type | Item | Atom | Tag | Form | The stem asks… | The options / the accept | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1 | SPA3-001 | easy | MCQ | what the Sun is really made of, against a named wrong picture | four materials: hot rock / burning wood / glowing gas / thick cloud | a picture book calls the Sun "a ball of fire" |
| 2 | PP-4 | SPA3-001 + Topic 13's ENE3-010 (pair) | medium | MCQ | which of four things makes its own light | four sky-and-household things: the Moon / the Sun / a mirror / a white wall | bare sort, no scene |
| 3 | PP-2 | SPA3-007 | easy | MCQ | which thing in the daytime sky is a star | four sky things: the Moon / a cloud / the blue sky / the Sun | Maud's grandmother points at "the only star you can see right now" |
| 4 | PP-5 | SPA3-007 | medium | MCQ | what is true about the Sun and the night-time stars | four statements: the Sun lights up the stars / the stars are pieces of the Sun / they are the same kind of thing / the stars make no light of their own | the Sun and the night-time stars, bare |
| 5 | PP-3 | SPA3-002 | easy | MCQ | where most of the energy reaching Earth comes from | four sky-and-air things: the Sun / the Moon / the clouds / the air | Earth's days are bright and warm |
| 6 | PP-6 | SPA3-002 | medium | MCQ | which of four warm things was warmed by the Sun | four warm things: soup on a stove / a sandy beach at noon / a hand near a heater / a bath of hot water | bare sort of four fresh warm things |
| 7 | PP-7 | SPA3-002 + Topic 15's ENE3-033 (pair) | medium | MCQ | what carried the energy to a metal thing warmed in sunshine | four carriers: the air rubbing on it / the ground under it / the mailbox itself / the Sun's light | a metal mailbox in sunshine all morning (Topic 15's rock is never reused) |
| 8 | PP-8 | SPA3-007 + SPA3-001 (pair) | hard | text | every night-time star is the same kind of thing as one thing in our daytime sky: type its name | SUN_ACC: Sun, the Sun, our Sun, in a child's forms | the night-time stars related to the one daytime star (no flight — L02 q4's scene is not reused) |
| 9 | PP-9 | SPA3-001 + Topic 20's MAT3-023 (pair) | hard | text | the Sun is not rock and not burning wood: type the one word for the kind of matter it is made of | GAS_ACC: gas, a gas, glowing gas, hot gas | the two wrong pictures named and refused |
Hard because (type 8): two steps — the night-time stars are the same kind of thing as the Sun (SPA3-007), and the one thing in OUR daytime sky that is (SPA3-001's Sun) — and the name is produced, not picked from a list where "the Sun" is the only sky thing that glows. Hard because (type 9): the word is produced, not recognised (typed recall of Topic 20's term). Medium because (type 2): the source rule is applied to four things, two of which are bright (the Moon, a mirror) — the sort is by "makes" against "is lit". Medium because (type 4): the student relates two things they have seen separately (by day, by night). Medium because (type 6): four warm things, three warmed by something on Earth — the "main source, not the only one" line applied. Medium because (type 7): the carrier is asked, not the source — Topic 15's sentence form run on a fresh thing, with the Topic 15 rubbing lesson as a distractor.
Bank notes for the generator. Type 1: keep the named wrong picture in the stem (a ball of fire; a burning rock; a giant lamp) — it is the misconception the item confronts — and vary the material options' order; never add "a form of energy" as an option (banned phrase). Type 3: vary WHO points and WHEN (a grandmother by day; a teacher at noon); never a night scene where the Sun is not in the sky. Type 4: keep all four options in one grammatical shape. Type 6: vary the four warm things; exactly one warmed by the Sun's light; never a plant or an animal (the Life strand's). Type 7: the carrier options stay four physical things; "the Sun's light" is the key, never "the Sun's heat"; the sunlit thing is never Topic 15's rock (its L02 attached item) — a mailbox, a bench, a bike seat is fresh. Types 8 and 9: the accept lists are generated by acc_word() in G3T29_lessons.py; a bank instance of type 8 may ask the reverse ("Imagine looking at our Sun from very, very far away. Type the word for what it would look like: a tiny point of light in the night sky is called a ___" → star) — one word, one step of the same pair. Day and night never explained; "on fire" only ever as the wrong picture.
Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)
| Atom | Types testing it alone | Pair types |
|---|---|---|
| SPA3-001 the Sun is a huge ball of glowing gas that makes its own light | 1 | 2 (with ENE3-010, a light source makes light), 8 (with SPA3-007), 9 (with MAT3-023, a gas is a kind of matter) |
| SPA3-007 the Sun is a star | 3, 4 | 8 (with SPA3-001) |
| SPA3-002 the Sun is the main source of the energy reaching Earth | 5, 6 | 7 (with ENE3-033, light carries energy) |
At most two alone-types per atom. Order in the file: easy PP-1…PP-3 → medium PP-4…PP-7 → hard PP-8, PP-9. Keys of the seven MCQs, in file order: PP-1 C · PP-2 D · PP-3 A · PP-4 B · PP-5 C · PP-6 B · PP-7 D (one A, two B, two C, two D — no letter over 35 %). Typed items: 2 of 9 on the sheet; in a bank of about fifty, types 8 and 9 supply 12–15 typed items on fresh framings, and medium instances of types 2 and 6 may be typed too ("Type the name of the one thing on this list that makes its own light").
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 what the Sun is made of, against wrong pictures | L01-V (the Sun drawn: gas / rock / wood), L01 q3 (fly up: hot rock / glowing gas / wood and flames), L02 q1 (recall: rock / gas / wood), PR-1 (Vince's clay model) | PP-1: a picture book's "ball of fire", four materials including thick cloud — the wrong picture is in the stem, a new framing |
| the source rule: who makes its own light | L01 q7 (the Sun makes it / another light shines onto it), L01 q9 (Tad: the Moon lights the Sun — claim), SUMMARY-1 (the Sun drawn: Moon / itself / Earth) | PP-4: four things sorted at once, two of them bright but lit (the Moon, a mirror) — a sort, not a two-way |
| pick the star from sky things | L02 q5 (the Moon / Earth / the Sun), SUMMARY-2 (a star field: which is the same kind — the Sun / the Moon / a cloud) | PP-2: the only star in the DAYTIME sky, pointed at by Maud's grandmother, with a cloud and the blue sky — the daytime framing is new |
| relate the Sun to the night-time stars | L02 q2 (Jodie: the Sun is a star — true claim), L02 q6 (Loki: a different kind of thing — claim), PR-2 (Yannick: the Sun is a star) | PP-5: what is true about them — four statements, three of which (the Sun lights the stars; pieces of the Sun; the stars make no light) no lesson item offered |
| a star up close / the same kind of thing | L02-V (a star field: the Moon / a cloud / our Sun), L02 q4 (fly close: like our Sun / the Moon / a cloud), PR-6 (up close, a night-time star) | PP-8: no flight — the night-time stars related to the ONE daytime thing of the same kind, its name TYPED (the reviewer's R7 framing) |
| where most of Earth's energy comes from | L03 q4 (the Moon / the Sun / the wind), PR-3 (the Moon / the Sun / the sea) | PP-3: "Earth's days are bright and warm" as the given, the clouds and the air as options (neither lesson set's distractors reused — R3) |
| was this warm thing warmed by the Sun? | L03 q3 (Ferdie's soup: no), L03 q5 (Lettie: every warm thing — claim), PR-7 (Ty: the school roof — true claim), the L03 table (slide, sea, cocoa, lamp) | PP-6: FOUR warm things sorted at once (beach, soup, heater, bath) — none of them on the page |
| what carried the energy to a sunlit thing | L03-V (the video's sand: warms up / cools / same — the OUTCOME), L03 q2 (the sandy path: the Sun's light / the sand / the air), L03 q7 (the pond: the wind / the Sun's light / the fish), SUMMARY-3 (the roof: the wind / the Sun's light / the ground); Topic 15 L02's attached item (a rock in sunshine — never reused, R2) | PP-7: a metal mailbox in sunshine with "the air rubbing on it" (Topic 15 L03) as a distractor — the carrier, on a sunlit metal object no lesson in the course used |
| the kind of matter the Sun is | L01 q12 (typed: glowing ___), PR-12 (typed: the same kind of matter as the air) | PP-9: typed, with both wrong pictures refused in the stem and Topic 20's category named |
| claims (bare yes / no) | L01 q2, q4, q9, q11; L02 q2, q3, q6, q8, q10; L03 q5, q6, q8, q9; PR-2, PR-4, PR-5, PR-7 | none on the sheet — a bare claim has two options; the bank's MCQs need four |
| the term by recall | L02 q11, PR-11 (star); PR-13 (the closest star: Sun) | none — the practice set's job |
| no Sun at all / at night | L03 q8 (Elke: just as warm — claim), L03 q10 (dark and frozen), L03 q6 (Tibor: cools at night — true claim), L03 q11 (a lamp's light), PR-9, PR-10 | none — the imagined removal is taught in L03 and drilled there; a bank instance of type 5 may use it as a framing ("With no Sun, Earth would be dark and frozen. Where does most of Earth's energy come from?") |
No bank exemplar shares a scene with a lesson, quiz or practice item, and no two exemplars share a move. A note on the fact-topic limit: PP-1, PP-3 and PP-4 reuse a MOVE a lesson item also makes (there is no other honest move for "what is it made of" or "which is a star"); their freshness is in the framing and the option set, and James's ruling "reuse the types, use different examples" is what this sheet applies.
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · SPA3-001 · easy
Stem: A picture book calls the Sun a ball of fire. What is the Sun really made of?
- hot rock
- burning wood
- glowing gas ← key
- thick cloud
Why: The Sun is not rock, and it is not a campfire. / It is made of gas, a kind of matter like the air. / That gas is so hot that it glows.
Type 3 — PP-2 · SPA3-007 · easy
Stem: Maud's grandmother points at the daytime sky and says, 'There is the only star you can see right now.' What is she pointing at?
- the Moon
- a cloud
- the blue sky
- the Sun ← key
Why: The Sun is a star. / It is the only star in our daytime sky. / So she is pointing at the Sun.
Type 5 — PP-3 · SPA3-002 · easy
Stem: Earth's days are bright and warm. Where does most of that energy come from?
- the Sun ← key
- the Moon
- the clouds
- the air
Why: The Sun's light lands on Earth all day. / Light carries energy to everything it lands on. / So most of the energy reaching Earth comes from the Sun.
Type 2 — PP-4 · SPA3-001 + ENE3-010 · medium
Stem: Which of these makes its own light?
- the Moon
- the Sun ← key
- a mirror
- a white wall
Why: The Sun is glowing gas, and its glow is its own. / Sunlight lands on the Moon, a mirror and a wall: they are lit up. / So only the Sun makes its own light.
Type 4 — PP-5 · SPA3-007 · medium
Stem: What is true about the Sun and the night-time stars?
- The Sun lights up the stars.
- The stars are pieces of the Sun.
- They are the same kind of thing. ← key
- The stars make no light of their own.
Why: Every star is a huge ball of glowing gas that makes its own light. / The Sun is exactly that. / So the Sun and the stars are the same kind of thing.
Type 6 — PP-6 · SPA3-002 · medium
Stem: Which of these was warmed by the Sun?
- soup on a stove
- a sandy beach at noon ← key
- a hand near a heater
- a bath of hot water
Why: The Sun's light lands on the beach and carries energy to it. / The stove, the heater and the hot tap warmed the others. / So the beach was warmed by the Sun.
Type 7 — PP-7 · SPA3-002 + ENE3-033 · medium
Stem: A metal mailbox stands in sunshine all morning and gets warm. What carried the energy to the mailbox?
- the air rubbing on it
- the ground under it
- the mailbox itself
- the Sun's light ← key
Why: Light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on. / The Sun's light lands on the mailbox. / So the Sun's light carried the energy to the mailbox.
Type 8 — PP-8 · SPA3-007 + SPA3-001 · hard · text entry
Stem: Every star in the night sky is the same kind of thing as one thing in our daytime sky. Type the name of that thing.
Accept: Sun · the Sun · our Sun · sun (and the same forms with a full stop)
Why: Every star is a huge ball of glowing gas that makes its own light. / The Sun is exactly that, and it is the star in our daytime sky. / So the thing is the Sun.
Hard because: two steps (the night-time stars are the same kind of thing as the Sun; the Sun is the star in OUR daytime sky) and the name is produced.
Type 9 — PP-9 · SPA3-001 + MAT3-023 · hard · text entry
Stem: The Sun is not rock and it is not burning wood. Type the one word for the kind of matter it is made of.
Accept: gas · a gas · the gas · glowing gas · hot gas · gases
Why: The Sun is made of gas, a kind of matter like the air. / That gas is so hot that it glows.
Hard because: the word is produced, not recognised (typed recall of Topic 20's term).