Creating ordering and number questions

Two quick question types that Signal marks for you the moment a student answers:

• Ordering: students put a list of items back in the right order, such as the stages of the water cycle or events in a story.
• Number: students type a number, such as the answer to a calculation, a measurement or a date.

When to use them: A fast check of a sequence or a calculation, where a multiple-choice question would give the answer away. They suit a starter, a check partway through a lesson or an exit ticket.

Where you can use them. In live quizzes and Assessments, on every plan. They aren’t offered in sessions answered with printed answer cards.

Add an ordering question

1. Open the session and select + (Add question).
2. Choose Ordering from the question types. On a phone, you pick the type first.
3. Write your question in the Question box, for example “Put the stages of mitosis in order.”
4. Under Items, in the right order, type each item in its correct place. You need at least 3 items and can have up to 10. Choose Add item for another, use the arrows to move one up or down, or remove one you don’t need.
5. Add an Answer explanation if you’d like students to see why when you reveal the answer.
6. Choose Save question.

Students see your items shuffled, under “Put these in the right order”, and move each one up or down with its arrows until they’re happy with the order. In a self-paced Assessment, a student who thinks the order shown is already right chooses Keep this order.

How it’s marked: every item in its place is correct, and some in place is partially correct. Only a fully correct order counts towards a student’s score.

Add a number question

1. Open the session and select + (Add question).
2. Choose Number from the question types.
3. Write your question in the Question box, for example “At sea level, water boils at what temperature?”
4. Type the answer under Correct answer. It can be a whole number, a decimal or a fraction, like 42, -3.5 or 3/4.
5. If you like, accept answers close to it: type a margin in the ± box (it’s exact unless you do), and add a Unit, such as °C or cm. The line underneath confirms what counts, for example “Answers from 99°C to 101°C are marked correct.”
6. Add an Answer explanation if you like, then choose Save question.

Students type their answer in the box under “Your answer”. Signal understands the ways students write numbers: “3,5” with a decimal comma, “3/4” and “42 cm” are all read correctly. “1,500” is read as one thousand five hundred.

Once anyone has answered, the correct answer, the margin and the unit can’t be changed, so check them before you start.

What you see back

Each answer is marked correct, partially correct (ordering only) or incorrect as soon as it arrives, and your results and scores work as they do for quiz questions.

These two types are marked by Signal itself, not by AI. They don’t use your AI allowance, and they don’t get AI feedback or AI insights.

Writing them with AI

You write ordering and number questions yourself: the AI box in the question editor isn’t offered for these two types. When AI generates a whole session, though, you can ask for Ordering questions and Number questions in its mix.

Asking for a reason

Ordering and number questions start with Ask for a reason set to Don’t ask, so they stay quick to answer. Choose Optional or Required if you’d like students to explain their answer.

Tips

• Keep ordering items short. A few words each is easiest to read and move, especially on a phone.
• Choose a sensible margin. For a measurement or an answer students round, a small margin stops a correct answer being marked wrong over the last decimal place.
• Say what form you want. If you want an answer in metres rather than centimetres, or to one decimal place, say so in the question.