--- title: 'Setting up a check for understanding session for HASS' description: 'Two worked examples — Geography and English — of the prompt that generates hinge questions for a HASS lesson.' canonical: 'https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-hass' siteGuide: 'https://www.gonurture.com/llms.txt' --- ![Setting up a check for understanding session for HASS](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2uC3hsewqZU/hqdefault.jpg) Watch tutorial TeacherHASSGeographyEnglish Two worked examples — Geography and English — of the prompt that generates hinge questions for a HASS lesson. Updated 20 August 2026 Two worked examples of setting up a check for understanding for HASS: one Geography, one English. The same approach applies across History and the wider social sciences. **When to use it:** When you are writing the prompt for a HASS lesson and want a model to work from. This page covers **setting the session up**. For running it in class and reading the results, see [how to create and run a Live Quiz session](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/getting-started/create-and-run-a-live-quiz-session.md). ## Framing Both examples use the **Live Quiz** session type, because checking for understanding happens live in class, after you have taught a subtopic. If you want something students complete outside class instead, use an [Assessment session](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/getting-started/create-and-run-an-assessment-session.md) — the prompt structure below is the same. Signal works the same way in your browser, in Microsoft Teams and in Canvas, so nothing here changes with the platform you teach on. ## The prompt structure The same structure works for every subject: - Year group - Subject - Topic - Roughly how many students, and their range of ability - The learning intention for the lesson - The subtopics you plan to cover If particular students have specific needs, say so. It shapes the questions Signal writes. ## Getting better questions out of generation Generation works well, but only when the prompt is specific. Name a topic and nothing else and you get generic questions; describe the lesson and you get questions you can use. Too vague Copy Year 7 Geography quiz on water. Compare that with the two prompts below: they name the subtopics, the ability range and the learning intention, and that is the whole difference. The more of the checklist above you fill in — the specific skill or misconception you’re checking, the number and type of questions, and the difficulty — the less editing you do afterwards. Whatever comes back still needs a read-through before it reaches a class, and the keyed answer is the thing to check first. There’s also a limit on how much one generation produces — see [generate a whole session with AI](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/creating-sessions/generate-a-session-with-ai.md) for how that works. ## The two prompts Year 7 HASS — Geography, Water in the World Copy Year 7 HASS - Geography, Water in the World 7C, 26 students, mixed ability. Learning intention: describe how water moves through the water cycle and explain why water scarcity happens in places that appear to have plenty of water. Topics that will be covered: - The water cycle as a continuous system. Evaporation, transpiration from plants, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff and infiltration into groundwater. Water is never created or destroyed, it only moves between stores and changes state. - Where the water actually is. About 97 per cent of the world's water is salt water in the oceans. Of the small amount that is fresh, most is locked up in ice sheets and glaciers or sits deep underground, leaving only a tiny fraction in rivers and lakes where people can easily reach it. - Water scarcity. Absolute scarcity is when there is genuinely not enough water in a place. Economic scarcity is when the water exists but people cannot reach it, afford it or treat it safely, so a region can sit beside a large river and still have severe water scarcity. Australia is the driest inhabited continent and its rainfall varies enormously from year to year rather than arriving reliably. Year 7 English — Persuasive Texts Copy Year 7 English - Persuasive Texts 7C, 26 students, mixed ability. Learning intention: identify persuasive techniques in a written text and explain the effect each one has on the reader. Topics that will be covered: - Purpose and audience. Who the writer is trying to convince, and what they want that reader to think or do by the end of the text. - Identifying techniques. Rhetorical questions, asked without expecting an answer. Emotive language, where a word is chosen to carry feeling, such as calling a decision devastating rather than unpopular. Inclusive language such as we, us and our. Repetition of a word or phrase. Statistics and expert opinion used to make a claim feel factual, including when the figure is vague or the expert is unnamed. - Technique to effect. Naming a technique is only half the work, because the point is what it does to the reader. Emotive language is not simply any strong or unusual word, it is a word chosen to produce a particular feeling, so every identification is followed by the effect it creates. ## What Signal generates Three hinge questions per example. Each one is multiple choice, with an explanation covering why the correct answer is correct and why each incorrect answer represents a specific misconception. The wrong answers are diagnostic, not traps — when a student picks one, it tells you something about how they are thinking. ## Adjusting questions Switching a question to **multiple answer** works as extended differentiation. Most students will find the obvious correct answer; the students who also identify the second correct option tend to be the higher achievers in the class. You can also ask Signal to **rewrite** a question that is too difficult or too easy for the group. Note that a rewrite may revert a multiple answer question back to single answer, so check it afterwards. ## A note specific to English English is a subject where multiple choice can feel like a poor fit, since so much assessment is subjective and looks for extended student reasoning. Quick checks still work well for technique, purpose, audience, and the effect of specific word choices — the parts of English where there is a defensible right answer. Open answer questions are available and may suit English, but they are harder to read for understanding, so they are covered separately in [creating open answer questions](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/creating-sessions/creating-open-answer-questions.md). ## Current limitation Source texts cannot currently be uploaded. If your lesson refers to a specific text, describe it in the prompt. Without a source, Signal will invent an example sentence to build the question around. [Previous How to create and run a Quiz Assessment in Canvas](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/getting-started-canvas/create-and-run-a-quiz-assessment-in-canvas.md) [Next Setting up a check for understanding session for Maths and Science](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-maths-and-science.md) Related articles - [How to create and run a Live Quiz session](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/getting-started/create-and-run-a-live-quiz-session.md) - [Setting up a check for understanding session for Maths and Science](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-maths-and-science.md) Still stuck? We're happy to help you directly. [Get in touch with the Nurture team](https://www.gonurture.com/contact-us.md).