Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ dea5d9e

Topic 37 — How plants make new plants — 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/G3T37.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Ten types for four atoms, one exemplar each — at most two alone-types per atom, four pair types. No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying the plant, the place, the names and the framing, easy-heavy.

Revised 29 Sep 2026 after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T37_2026-09-29.md): five exemplars were lesson or quiz items with the plant renamed and are re-instanced (F02) — PP-1 is now a cedar with no flowers yet seeds (the source is inferred), PP-2 a potted fern on a windowsill with no tapping and no paper, PP-4 a photo of a squash plant in fruit (a look-back read off a picture), PP-5 the seed picked out of four parts of four different foods, PP-10 a cucumber plant; PP-8 moved from the bean (L04's taught plant) to a pepper plant (F03); PP-6 gained a fresh option set — two spore sentences and two seed sentences, so the key is not the odd one out (F04; cold read A). The bar this sheet now meets: a bank item shares no named plant and no sentence template with any lesson, quiz, attached or practice item. The inventory at the foot is the check.

James's rulings applied. Hard items are typed, never MCQs (28 Sep night): two text-entry types (the term produced from a description of a plant the course never showed; the word for the small things inside a cucumber). 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 stem of three sentences is tagged easy or medium; every exemplar is a fresh instance; a headache character (Perdita, Isolde, Ferran, Rhoswen, Caradoc) never appears; every claim-maker is used once in the topic. Nothing James has rejected appears here.

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 recalled or one described plant sorted; medium = the fact applied to a fresh case; hard = the term produced, not recognised.

The ten types

Hard because (type 9): two steps — sort a plant the student has never met (no flowers or cones → the spore side), then PRODUCE the term rather than recognise it. Hard because (type 10): the term is produced, not recognised, from a described case (review S02 — one step, and James's typed-hard ruling puts production in the hard tier). Medium because (type 5): the definition is applied across four different foods, only one of which holds a tiny plant. Medium because (type 6): the sort is run on a described plant with no name to lean on. Medium because (type 7): two facts held at once — cones mean seeds, and the seeds are in the cones. Medium because (type 8): the flower's job is used to order events in time.

Bank notes for the generator. Type 1: vary the tree (cedar, larch, hemlock are used on the page — pick others: cypress, redwood, juniper) and keep the "no flowers, yet seeds" inference; never the pine (L01, L03), the fir (L03 quiz) or the spruce (SUMMARY-1). Type 2: vary the child and where the dust settles (a windowsill, a shelf, a table under a hanging fern); never tapping a leaf over paper (L02's taught scene); the key is always spores — never offer "pollen" (not taught). Type 3: four plants, exactly one with no flowers or cones; vary between a fern and a moss as the key; never the lesson's garden set (rose, pine, fern, moss, grass) as a whole. Type 4: a look-back read off a picture of a fresh plant in fruit (squash here; melon, courgette, tomato are open) — the stem never says the fruit grew "where the flowers were" (cold read A: that hands over the key); never a forecast in words (L04 q7 and SUMMARY-2 own that), never the cherry (L04 q1), the pea (L04 q2), the pumpkin (L04 q5), the orange (PR-9) or the plum (L04-V). Type 5: four parts of four different foods, exactly one a seed (an avocado stone, a date stone, a sunflower seed from a snack pack, a peach stone from PR? — no: the peach is L01 q6's); never the apple (L01), the peach (L01 q6) or the pear (L04 q6). Type 6: vary the place (a forest floor, a damp wall, a shady bank); the plant is described, not named; keep two spore sentences and two seed sentences so the key is never the odd shape out (cold read A). Type 7: the four sentences keep their parallel shape; a bank item may swap which two are true-of-seeds. Type 8: vary the plant (pepper here; a tomato, a chilli, a courgette are open) and the four events; the flower is always first; never the bean (L04's taught plant, L04 q9), the pea (L04 q2) or the pumpkin (L04 q5). Type 9: the plant is always one the course never showed (liverwort here; another moss or fern described without the word), with "never makes flowers or cones" in the stem. Type 10: vary the plant and its fruit (cucumber here); the stem describes the small things, never names them. Fungi (James's open item 5, the reviewer's line): no bank item ever names a mushroom, toadstool or mold in a stem or an option — "a mushroom" under "which plant makes spores" is a second key, and LIF3-072 names plants.

Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)

At most two alone-types per atom. Order in the file: easy PP-1…PP-4 → medium PP-5…PP-8 → hard PP-9, PP-10. Keys of the eight MCQs, in file order: A B C D B A B C (two A, three B, two C, one D — no letter over 35 %). 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 plants, and medium items of types 5 and 6 may be typed too ("Type the name of the part that can grow into a new plant").

Design-move inventory (every move on the page, then the bank's)

No two bank items share a move; no bank exemplar shares a named plant or a sentence template with a lesson, quiz, attached or practice item (cedar, Adaora's potted fern, the park, the squash, the four foods, the forest-floor plant, the cone tree in four sentences, the pepper, the liverwort, the cucumber — grepped against Topics 32–38's content files).

The exemplars, in full

Type 1 — PP-1 · LIF3-071 · easy

Stem: A cedar tree never makes flowers, yet every fall small seeds drop from it. Where do the cedar's seeds come from?

• its cones ← key
• its needles
• its roots
• its bark

Why: The cedar never makes flowers, yet it makes seeds. / Plants with flowers or cones make seeds, so the cedar must make cones. / Its seeds sit inside the cones, between the woody scales. / So the cedar's seeds come from its cones.

Type 2 — PP-2 · LIF3-072 · easy

Stem: Adaora keeps a fern in a pot on a white windowsill, and after a week fine brown dust lies on the sill under its leaves. What is the dust?

• seeds
• spores ← key
• dry soil
• bits of dead leaf

Why: A fern has no flowers or cones, so it makes no seeds. / It releases spores from the dots under its leaves. / The fine brown dust on the sill is those spores. / So the dust is spores.

Type 3 — PP-3 · LIF3-014 · easy

Stem: Faris walks through a park past a tulip bed, a pine tree, a moss-covered log and a bean plant. Which of the four plants makes spores?

• the tulip
• the pine tree
• the moss ← key
• the bean plant

Why: The tulip and the bean plant make flowers, and the pine tree makes cones, so all three make seeds. / The moss never makes flowers or cones. / So the moss makes spores.

Type 4 — PP-4 · LIF3-024 · easy · photo photo_squash_plant

Stem: Here is a squash plant in late summer, with squashes hanging from its stems. Where were the squash seeds made?

• in the leaves
• in the stem
• in the roots
• in the flowers ← key

Why: A plant's flower is where its seeds are made. / Each squash grew where one of the plant's flowers was; one faded flower is still on the end of a small squash. / So the squash seeds were made in the flowers.

Type 5 — PP-5 · LIF3-071 · medium

Stem: Which of these can grow into a new plant?

• a strip of orange peel
• an avocado stone ← key
• a lettuce leaf
• a piece of banana

Why: A seed is a plant's package for growing a new plant. / The avocado stone is the avocado tree's seed: it holds a tiny plant and its food. / Peel, a leaf and a piece of banana hold no tiny plant. / So the avocado stone can grow into a new plant.

Medium because: the definition is applied across four different foods.

Type 6 — PP-6 · LIF3-072 + LIF3-014 · medium

Stem: A small green plant on a forest floor has never made a flower or a cone. How does it make new plants?

• It releases spores. ← key
• It releases seeds.
• It makes seeds in flowers.
• It makes spores in cones.

Why: The plant never makes flowers or cones. / Plants with flowers or cones make seeds; plants without them make spores. / So it makes new plants by releasing spores, and it has no cones to make anything in.

Medium because: the sort is run on a described plant with no name to lean on.

Type 7 — PP-7 · LIF3-014 + LIF3-071 · medium

Stem: A tree makes cones but never makes flowers. Which sentence is true of the tree?

• It makes spores in its cones.
• It makes seeds in its cones. ← key
• It makes seeds in its needles.
• It makes spores under its needles.

Why: The tree makes cones. / Plants with flowers or cones make seeds, not spores. / The seeds sit inside the cones. / So the tree makes seeds in its cones.

Medium because: two facts are held at once — cones mean seeds, and the seeds are in the cones.

Type 8 — PP-8 · LIF3-024 · medium

Stem: A pepper plant grows from a seed. Which of these happens first?

• A pepper grows.
• Seeds grow inside the pepper.
• A white flower opens. ← key
• The pepper turns red.

Why: A plant's flower is where its seeds are made. / So the flower opens first. / Then its petals fall, a pepper grows where the flower was, and the seeds grow inside it.

Medium because: the flower's job is used to order events in time.

Type 9 — PP-9 · LIF3-014 + LIF3-072 · hard · text entry

Stem: A liverwort is a small flat green plant that grows on damp rocks. It never makes flowers or cones. Type the name of the specks it releases to grow new liverworts.

Accept: spore · a spore · the spore · spores

Why: The liverwort never makes flowers or cones. / Plants without flowers or cones make spores. / So the specks it releases are spores.

Hard because: two steps — sort a plant the course never showed, then produce the term.

Type 10 — PP-10 · LIF3-024 + LIF3-071 · hard · text entry

Stem: A cucumber plant's yellow flowers fade, and cucumbers grow where the flowers were. Inside each cucumber are small pale things that can grow into new cucumber plants. Type the word for those small things.

Accept: seed · a seed · the seed · seeds

Why: A plant's flower is where its seeds are made. / The cucumber grew where a flower was. / The small pale things inside can grow into new plants: each is a package with a tiny plant inside. / So they are seeds.

Hard because: the term is produced, not recognised, from a described case.