--- title: 'Setting up a check for understanding session for Maths and Science' description: 'Two worked examples — Probability and Forces and Motion — plus how to handle mathematical and scientific notation.' canonical: 'https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-maths-and-science' siteGuide: 'https://www.gonurture.com/llms.txt' --- ![Setting up a check for understanding session for Maths and Science](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/b_V8qPHlPFg/hqdefault.jpg) Watch tutorial TeacherMathsScience Two worked examples — Probability and Forces and Motion — plus how to handle mathematical and scientific notation. Updated 20 August 2026 Two worked examples of setting up a check for understanding: one Maths, one Science. The notation section applies to any subject that uses mathematical or scientific notation, not only to Maths and Science teachers. **When to use it:** When you are writing the prompt for a Maths or Science lesson, or when you need to edit a question containing notation. 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. Checks for understanding are quick: released after you have taught a subtopic, and answered in 30 seconds to a minute. Three questions across a lesson is a realistic number, even though Signal can generate up to 20 — generate more than you need and release only the ones that fit how the lesson actually goes. 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 - Year group - Subject - Topic - Approximate class size and ability range - The learning intention for the lesson - The subtopics you plan to cover Specific student needs can be noted too, and will shape the questions. ## 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 Maths quiz on probability. 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 Maths — Probability Copy Year 7 Maths - Probability 7C, 26 students, mixed ability. Learning intention: list the sample space for a chance experiment and calculate theoretical probability as a fraction. Topics that will be covered: - Sample space. Listing every possible outcome. One coin gives heads or tails. One die gives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. Two coins give HH, HT, TH and TT, which is four outcomes and not three, because HT and TH are different results. - Theoretical probability written as a fraction, with the number of favourable outcomes over the total number of outcomes. Rolling a four on a die is one sixth. Rolling an even number is three sixths, which simplifies to one half. Probabilities sit on a scale from 0 for impossible to 1 for certain. - Independent trials. A coin that has landed on heads five times running still has a one half chance of landing heads on the next throw. The coin has no memory of what came before, and a run of one result does not make the other result more likely. Year 7 Science — Forces and Motion Copy Year 7 Science - Forces and Motion 7C, 26 students, mixed ability. Learning intention: identify contact and non-contact forces and calculate the net force acting on an object. Topics that will be covered: - Contact and non-contact forces. Friction, applied force and air resistance all need the two objects to be touching. Gravity and magnetism act at a distance without any contact at all. - Balanced forces. Two equal forces acting in opposite directions, so 8 newtons down and 8 newtons up gives a net force of 0 newtons and the motion does not change. A balanced object can be moving at a steady speed, it does not have to be sitting still. - Unbalanced forces. The net force is the difference between the opposing forces and acts in the direction of the larger one, so a trolley pushed with 12 newtons against 5 newtons of friction has a net force of 7 newtons forwards. An unbalanced force is what changes motion by speeding something up, slowing it down or turning it. A steady force is not needed to keep something moving once it is already going. ## Mathematical notation This is the most important section on this page, and it is relevant to any subject that uses mathematical or scientific notation — not only Maths and Science. Signal uses LaTeX formatting for notation. Generated questions should already be formatted correctly, but when you open a question to edit it, the raw LaTeX becomes visible and looks unformatted. That is expected: it renders properly again for students. Wherever formatting options appear, the menu gives you quick inserts for fractions, superscripts, subscripts, square roots, structures, constants and operators. Your values go between the curly brackets, and a live preview shows how the notation will render to students. If you plan to edit questions regularly, a working familiarity with LaTeX basics is worth having. For the full reference — the toolbar, writing LaTeX directly, and a table of common notation — see [using LaTeX for maths and science notation](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/creating-sessions/using-latex-for-maths-and-science-notation.md). ## Adjusting questions You can ask Signal to rewrite a question that is too advanced for the group, or to increase the difficulty of one that is too easy. Quick options are available for simplifying the wording, shortening the question, and improving the answer choices, with more behind the overflow menu. Switching a question to **multiple answer** works as differentiation: identifying the second correct option is what separates the higher achievers in the class. ## Why subtopics matter A prompt that names only the topic will still generate questions, but they will be generic. Naming the specific subtopics you plan to teach is what makes the questions land on the right content — “Probability” gives you something plausible, while naming the subtopics within it gives you questions you can actually use in tomorrow’s lesson. [Previous Setting up a check for understanding session for HASS](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-hass.md) [Next Setting up a check for understanding session for HPE and Digital Technologies](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-hpe-and-digital-technologies.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 HASS](https://www.gonurture.com/tutorials/signal/example-sessions/check-for-understanding-session-for-hass.md) Still stuck? We're happy to help you directly. [Get in touch with the Nurture team](https://www.gonurture.com/contact-us.md).