Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ dea5d9e
Topic 40 — Life cycles and family likeness — 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/G3T40.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Ten types for five atoms; eleven exemplars, because type 1 is shown in both its forms (a four-option MCQ and a typed item). No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying the kind of living thing, the litter, the place and the names, easy-heavy.
Revised 29 Sep 2026 after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T40_2026-09-29.md): five exemplars were lesson, quiz or practice scenes with a noun changed and are re-instanced (PP-1 an apple seed just sprouted; PP-4 two guinea pigs; PP-5 cress on a wet-and-dry tray; PP-8 a hen and rooster's chicks; PP-10 a lizard against a butterfly); type 4's ask now varies so its key is not always "the egg"; item cards carry the stage only, never "which lays eggs"; type 10 no longer performs the sort or prints the definition; type 1 gains its typed form; PP-8's four options share one two-clause frame. The inventory below was rebuilt against every item and every taught scene.
James's rulings applied. Hard items are typed, never MCQs (28 Sep night): two hard text-entry types (the resting stage only the butterfly has, named from a comparison of two cycles; "surroundings", produced after deciding from the evidence that a feature is not from the parents). Easy items are four-option MCQs and lead the bank; the medium tier holds two MCQs, one REORDER item (your Topic 2 ruling) and one typed item. 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 footnote, a number or an option word that answers it; no exemplar shares a scene with a lesson, quiz, attached or practice item, and no headache character or claim-maker appears. 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). Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one stage named from the fixed set, one stage picked from a listed cycle, one form of one feature, one where-from sort with the evidence given; medium = the loop applied to what carries a kind on, four stages placed in order, a clutch read for what it shows about offspring, the next stage PRODUCED; hard = two cycles compared and the extra stage NAMED, or the source of a feature decided from the evidence and its word PRODUCED.
The ten types
| Type | Item | Atom | Tag | Form | The stem asks… | The options / the accept | Exemplar scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PP-1 | LIF3-030 | easy | MCQ | a living thing at a named stage: which stage of its life cycle comes next | the fixed four-stage set: begins / grows / makes more of its own kind / dies | an apple seed that has just sprouted |
| 1 (typed form) | PP-9 | LIF3-030 | medium | text | the same ask, the stage word typed | grows / it grows / growing / grows up / growth | a lamb born last night |
| 4 | PP-2 | LIF3-031 | easy | MCQ | four stages listed out of order: which comes first, last, or right after the egg — the ask varies across the bank | the four stages | a beetle: young beetle, egg, grown beetle, a resting stage in a case — "right after the egg" |
| 6 | PP-3 | LIF3-040 | easy | MCQ | two parents with a named feature have young: which FORM of that feature do the young most likely have | four forms of the one feature | two long-eared rabbits: long / short / one of each / curled |
| 7 | PP-4 | LIF3-041 | easy | MCQ, drawn | two offspring of one kind, drawn: which feature differs | four features of that kind, one that differs in the drawing (a marking, never size) | two guinea pigs from one litter, one with a white patch |
| 9 | PP-5 | LIF3-042 | easy | MCQ | two offspring of one kind with different surroundings and one differing feature, the evidence in the stem: where did it come from | from its parents / from its surroundings / two other sources, none echoing the stem | cress from one plant's seeds, a wet corner and a dry corner |
| 2 | PP-6 | LIF3-030 | medium | MCQ | a grown living thing dies: which of these keeps its kind going | four things in the scene, one its seeds or eggs | an old plum tree in an orchard |
| 3 | PP-7 | LIF3-031 | medium | REORDER, drawn | four stage cards out of order, the stage only on each: put them in order from the beginning | the four stages, tapped in order | a bee: egg in a wax cell, young bee, a resting stage in the cell, grown bee |
| 8 | PP-8 | LIF3-040 + LIF3-041 (pair) | medium | MCQ | a clutch with most young like the parents and one that differs: what does this show about offspring | four two-clause statements in one frame, one true | a speckled hen and rooster, six chicks, one white |
| 5 | PP-10 | LIF3-031 + LIF3-030 (pair) | hard | text | two cycles listed; type the name of the stage only one of them has | term_accept("chrysalis") + the "chrysalis stage" forms | a lizard's cycle against a butterfly's |
| 10 | PP-11 | LIF3-042 + LIF3-040 (pair) | hard | text | a litter shares the parents' feature; one puppy got little food and differs; type the word for where the difference came from — no sort performed, no definition printed | term_accept("surroundings") + "its surroundings", "surrounding", and the food forms | two spaniel puppies, floppy ears, one fed well |
Hard because (type 5): the student compares two cycles stage by stage, finds the one stage that has no match, and NAMES it from memory. Hard because (type 10): the student decides from the evidence (one litter, so the same parents; only the food differed) that the thin shape did not come from the parents, and then PRODUCES the word for its source — the stem does neither for them. Medium because (type 1 typed): the stage word is produced, not recognised. Medium because (type 2): the loop rule is applied to what carries the kind on, not read off a ring. Medium because (type 3): four placements, each right or wrong, with no clause on any card to sort by. Medium because (type 8): the clutch is read for two ideas at once — take after, and differ.
Bank notes for the generator. Type 1: vary the stage the stem names (just sprouted / just hatched / born / grown up / has had young) so every key in the fixed set is used; the fixed set keeps its order; the typed form accepts the stage word and its child forms. Type 4: four-stage cycles only, with plain stage words (young X, a resting stage in a case, grown X — never "larva", "pupa", "grub"); rotate the ask (first / last / right after the egg) so the key is not always the egg. Type 6: ask about ONE feature and offer its forms (a color, a length, a pattern); never a feature the animal can never have. Type 7: the differing feature is a marking or a pattern visible in the photo, never size; the blind note names what is visible, never an option word as a verdict. Type 9: the stem ALWAYS carries the evidence (one plant's seeds, one pod, one litter; the difference in light, water, food or wind), never a bare pair that differ; no option echoes a stem word. Type 3: four cards for the bank, the stage only on each; kinds with a young that has its own name (gosling, tadpole, hatchling, wriggler) or a plain description. Type 2: never a claim form; the pick-what-carries-it-on form keeps four options. Type 8: the four options share one two-clause frame; the true one is "take after, but some features differ"; the false three are the register's traps.
Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)
| Atom | Types testing it alone | Pair types |
|---|---|---|
| LIF3-030 every life runs in a cycle | 1 (MCQ and typed), 2 | 5 (with LIF3-031) |
| LIF3-031 put a life cycle in order | 3, 4 | 5 (with LIF3-030) |
| LIF3-040 offspring take after their parents | 6 | 8 (with LIF3-041), 10 (with LIF3-042) |
| LIF3-041 same kind, small differences | 7 | 8 (with LIF3-040) |
| LIF3-042 surroundings can shape a feature | 9 | 10 (with LIF3-040) |
At most two alone-types per atom. Order in the file: easy PP-1…PP-5 → medium PP-6…PP-9 → hard PP-10, PP-11. Keys of the seven MCQs, in file order: PP-1 B · PP-2 C · PP-3 A · PP-4 A · PP-5 B · PP-6 D · PP-8 C (two A, two B, two C, one D — no letter over 35 %). The reorder item has no key letter. Typed items: 3 of 11 on the sheet; in a bank of about fifty, types 5, 10 and the typed form of type 1 supply 12–15 typed items (the stage only one of two named cycles has — tadpole, chrysalis, cocoon, wriggler, gosling; "surroundings" or "parents" produced after a sort; the next stage produced).
Design-move inventory (every move on the page and in its taught scenes, then the bank's)
| Move (what the student does with what) | Lesson-side instances (taught scenes in italics) | Bank exemplar |
|---|---|---|
| name the stage that comes next from the fixed set | the bean, frog and hen rings; L01 q2 (oak), q3 (robin ring), q4 (goat), q8 (pumpkin ring), q10 (mouse, last stage); PR-1 (moth caterpillar); L01-V, S1 (rings with a ? stop) | PP-1: an apple seed just sprouted — a plant at the beginning, no drawing (the lesson's plant cases are a grown oak and a pumpkin ring); PP-9: a lamb, the stage TYPED |
| what carries the kind on after one dies | Dorotea's dead bean plant; L01 q5 (Horatio, pumpkin line claim), q9 (Clement, salmon loop claim); PR-3 (Peregrine, oak claim) | PP-6: an old plum tree — the pick form, four things in the scene |
| which has a life cycle | L01 q7 (maple / bicycle / river); PR-9 (kite / grasshopper / puddle) | none — kept for the quiz and practice |
| pick a stage from a listed cycle (first / last / right after the egg) | the butterfly cards; L02 q1 (moth, first), q2 (moth, right after the egg), q3 (moth, lays the eggs); L02-V (moth cards, first); S2 (dragonfly cards, last) | PP-2: a beetle's four stages in words, "right after the egg" |
| put a cycle in order (reorder) | the bean and frog cards; L02 q4 goose, q5 mosquito, q6 ladybug cards, q8 pumpkin; PR-2 sea turtle, PR-10 dandelion | PP-7: a bee on four cards |
| which stage one cycle has that another lacks | L02 q10 (frog vs goose, MCQ); PR-11 (moth vs hen, MCQ) | PP-10: lizard vs butterfly, the stage TYPED |
| a caterpillar and a butterfly are one animal; the egg comes first | L02 q7 (Bertrand), q8 (Crispin) | none — claim forms |
| which form of the parents' feature the young have | poppies, giraffe, cat; L03 q2 foxes' fur, q3 tomatoes' fruit, q5 ducks' feet, q7 elephant (drawn), q10 poppies' flowers; L03-V zebra's coat; PR-4 deer's coat | PP-3: rabbits' ears, four forms |
| exact copy / wanting / both parents | L03 q4 (Augustin), q6 (Evangeline), q8 (both parents), q9 (Wystan) | folded into PP-8's false options |
| which feature differs on a drawn pair | the puppies, the twins, the pumpkins; L04 q1 ladybugs, q4 snails; L04-V kittens; PR-5 robins | PP-4: two guinea pigs, a white patch |
| which feature differs in a described litter | L04 q2 chicks, q8 robins, q10 kittens | — |
| shared or differs, on a named feature | L04 q5 (bean height), q7 (curly tail) | — |
| twins / copies / two sizes claims | L04 q3 (Cuthbert), q6 (Fitzgerald), q9 (Montgomery) | — |
| what a clutch or litter shows about offspring | Alaric's puppies (a claim, not an item); PR-8 (rabbits, written answer) | PP-8: a hen and rooster's six chicks — a bird clutch, MCQ |
| where a feature came from, evidence in the stem | Guinevere's beans (shade), the pines (wind), the flamingo (food); L05 q1 carrots (water), q2 goldfish (space), q3 hedgehog, q4 duckling, q6 oaks (soil), q8 kitten's tail, q9 lambs (milk); L05-V tomatoes (water); S3 lambs' faces; PR-6 rose bushes (shade), PR-7 tiger cub | PP-5: cress, a wet and a dry corner — a plant, WATER, fresh against the beans (shade) and the tomatoes (one plant, not a tray) |
| sun / grass claims | L05 q5 (Lettice), q7 (Godfrey) | — |
| the term by recall | L01 q11, L02 q11, L03 q11, L05 q10; PR-12…PR-15 | none on the sheet — PP-11 produces "surroundings" only after the student has decided the source from the evidence |
No bank exemplar shares a scene with a lesson's taught case, a quiz, attached or practice item; two exemplars share a move with lesson items and differ in scene kind (PP-5 a tray of cress against a shade pair; PP-8 a bird clutch against a written answer on rabbits) — marked here as James's Topic 3 ruling allows ("reuse the types, use different examples"). Headache characters (Dorotea, Lucian, Theodora, Alaric, Everard, Guinevere, Seraphina) appear in no item; each claim-maker appears once in the topic.
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 · LIF3-030 · easy
Stem: An apple seed has just sprouted in the soil. Which stage of its life cycle comes next?
- begins
- grows ← key
- makes more of its own kind
- dies
Why: Every life begins, grows, makes more of its own kind, and dies. / Sprouting is the beginning, and that has just happened. / So next the young apple plant grows.
Type 4 — PP-2 · LIF3-031 · easy
Stem: A beetle's life has four stages, out of order: a young beetle, an egg, a grown beetle, a resting stage in a case. Which stage comes right after the egg?
- the egg
- the grown beetle
- the young beetle ← key
- the resting stage in a case
Why: Find the beginning: the egg. / Put the young before the grown-up. / The young beetle hatches from the egg. / So the young beetle comes right after the egg.
Type 6 — PP-3 · LIF3-040 · easy
Stem: Two long-eared rabbits have babies. What ears do the babies most likely have?
- long ears ← key
- short ears
- one long ear and one short ear
- curled ears
Why: Offspring take after their parents: they share many features with them. / The parent rabbits have long ears. / So their babies most likely have long ears too.
Type 7 — PP-4 · LIF3-041 · easy · drawing photo_pp_two_guinea_pigs
Stem: Here are two guinea pigs from one litter. Which feature differs between them?
- their fur pattern ← key
- their whiskers
- their number of legs
- their ears
Why: Offspring of one kind are alike, but not the same. / Both guinea pigs have whiskers, four legs and small ears: shared. / One is plain brown and one has a white patch. / So fur pattern differs.
Type 9 — PP-5 · LIF3-042 · easy
Stem: Two cress plants grew from the seeds of one cress plant, on one tray: one corner was kept wet, one was left dry. The dry-corner plant is small and floppy; where did that come from?
- from its own flowers
- from its surroundings ← key
- from the shape of its seed
- from its parents
Why: Both plants came from one cress plant: the same parents. / Only the one in the dry corner is small and floppy. / The water it got is part of its surroundings. / So the small, floppy shape came from its surroundings.
Type 2 — PP-6 · LIF3-030 · medium
Stem: An old plum tree in an orchard dies. Which of these keeps the plum-tree kind going?
- the rain that falls on the orchard
- the tree's dead branches
- the soil under the tree
- the seeds inside its plums ← key
Why: Every living thing dies. / But the grown tree has already made more of its own kind: plums with seeds inside. / The seeds begin new plum trees. / So the seeds keep the kind going.
Type 3 — PP-7 · LIF3-031 · medium · REORDER · drawing cards_pp_bee
Stem: Here are four stages of a bee's life on cards, out of order. Put them in order, from the beginning.
Correct order: an egg in a wax cell → a young bee (white and soft) → a resting stage in the cell → a grown bee (the page shows them scrambled; the student taps them in order).
Why: Find the beginning: the egg. / The young bee comes before the grown-up. / The resting stage in the cell comes in between. / The grown bee makes the next eggs: last.
Type 8 — PP-8 · LIF3-040 + LIF3-041 · medium
Stem: A speckled hen and a speckled rooster have six chicks: five speckled and one plain white. What does this show about offspring?
- they are exact copies, so every one looks the same
- they never take after their parents, so any color can appear
- they take after their parents, but some features differ ← key
- they pick their own color, so one chose white
Why: Five chicks are speckled, like both parents: offspring take after their parents. / One chick is white: some features differ, even in one clutch. / So offspring take after their parents, but some features differ.
Type 1, typed form — PP-9 · LIF3-030 · medium · text entry
Stem: A lamb was born last night. Type the stage of its life cycle that comes next.
Accept: grows · it grows · grow · growing · grows up · it grows up · growth (the grader folds case)
Why: Every life begins, grows, makes more of its own kind, and dies. / Being born is the beginning, and that has just happened. / So next the lamb grows.
Medium because: the stage word is produced, not recognised.
Type 5 — PP-10 · LIF3-031 + LIF3-030 · hard · text entry
Stem: A lizard's life goes egg, young lizard, grown lizard. A butterfly's goes egg, caterpillar, then a resting stage in a hard case, then butterfly. Type the name of that resting stage.
Accept: chrysalis · a chrysalis · the chrysalis · chrysalis stage · a chrysalis stage · the chrysalis stage
Why: Both cycles begin with an egg and end with a grown-up that lays eggs. / Only the butterfly has a resting stage inside a hard case. / That stage is called a chrysalis.
Hard because: two cycles compared stage by stage, and the unmatched stage named from memory.
Type 10 — PP-11 · LIF3-042 + LIF3-040 · hard · text entry
Stem: Two spaniel puppies from one litter both have floppy ears, like their parents. One was fed well and grew strong; one got little food and stayed thin. Type the word for where the thin shape came from.
Accept: surroundings · a surroundings · the surroundings · its surroundings · from its surroundings · surrounding · food · its food · the food · little food · not enough food · from its food
Why: The floppy ears came from the parents: both puppies and both parents have them. / The thin shape is in only one puppy, and the two had the same parents. / The difference was the food. / Food is part of a living thing's surroundings.
Hard because: the stem neither sorts the feature nor prints the definition — the student decides from the evidence (one litter, the food differed) that the thin shape is not from the parents, then produces the word.