This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating a Graphing Solution Set item in the Item Bank. This item type requires students to plot lines on a graph and select the correct area that represents the solution set using information in the problem. This question type can be administered online only, does not offer partial scoring, and is automatically scored.
Before You Begin
This lesson begins assuming that users have the permissions to create new Item Bank items, and are familiar with the item creation process. To learn more about creating Item Bank items, take a look at the Create Items article.
Create Graphing Solution Set Item
General Item Settings and Question Creation
- Select the Graphing Solution Set item type.
- (Optional) Choose one or more passages by selecting Link Passage.
- Passages must be published and located in the same Work Space to be available for linking.
- Use the slider to determine if the item should Include Teacher Instructions.
- If the slider is set to Yes, enter teacher instructions into the text box.
- Enter the Total Possible Points students can earn on the item.
- Enter the Question in the text box.
- The Question may also include audio, video, images, equations, or tables, as shown in the CKEditor formatting tools. Take a look at CKEditor Formatting Tools for Staff Users for more details.
Grid Configuration
Grid Configurations act as a starting point in creating the desired graph question. Once a Grid Configuration is chosen, the quadrants, axes, labels, and intervals can still be altered manually.
- The first chart, under Define Graph Attributes, displays what the question will look like initially to the student when they view the item in an assessment. Select the desired chart layout from the Grid Configuration dropdown. The chart will update in real time.
- 4-quadrant coordinate grid, -10 to 10: Default layout. Displays all four quadrants, with x- and y-axis values ranging from -10 to 10, and an interval of 1.
- 0 to 10 on both axes: Displays the first quadrant, with x- and y-axis values ranging from 0 to 10, and an interval of 1.
- 0 to 20 on both axes: Displays the first quadrant, with x- and y-axis values ranging from 0 to 20, and an interval of 1.
- Sample Data Graph: Displays the first quadrant, with a Time axis ranging from 0 to 30 with a label interval of 2, and a Distance axis ranging from 0 to 80 with a label interval of 10.
Grid Setup and Settings
- Select Customize Grid Setup to expand the customization settings. The menu will display differently depending on the selected Grid Configuration. The Define Graph Attributes chart will update in real time in response to customization changes.
- Toggle on Constrain to standard coordinate grid? to synchronize the grid axes; changes made to the Min and Max Values and the Grid and Label Intervals for either axis will automatically apply to the other axis. Toggle off to desynchronize the axes, allowing different Min and Max Values and Intervals for each axis.
- Enter the desired Axis Min and Max Values by using the plus and minus symbols, or by typing in the fields.
- For the axes to be visible, the Min Value must be set to zero or a negative number, and the Max Value must be set to a positive number.
- Min and Max Values allow for decimals, but are functionally constrained by the Interval limitations, which include divisors of 1 up to three decimal places, e.g., 0.1, 0.125, 0.2, 0.25, 0.5.
- The Grid and Label Intervals will automatically change to match the scale of the axis values, but can still be manually altered.
- The Min Value is capped at -10,000, and the Max Value is capped at 10,000.
- Type the desired Axis Labels. The axes are default labeled as x and y.
- Enter the desired Grid and Label Intervals by using the plus and minus symbols, or by typing in the fields.
- The Label Intervals will automatically update to match the Grid Intervals, but can still be manually altered.
- The plus and minus symbols will add or subtract to the Intervals differently depending on the set Min and Max Values.
- The allowed Intervals are dependent on the set Min and Max Values. Given a Min and Max Value of -10,000 and 10,000, respectively, the maximum Grid Interval is 1,000, and the maximum Label Interval is 5,000. Given a Min and Max Value of -0.1 and 0.1, respectively, the minimum Grid Interval is 0.01.
- The minimum allowed Label Interval is equal to the set Grid Interval. The maximum allowed Label Interval is dependent on the set Min and Max Values and the Grid Interval. It is generally a multiple of the Grid Interval, and not so large that it exceeds the bounds of the set graph.
- Enter the desired Dimensions of the graph in pixels by using the plus and minus symbols, or by typing in the fields. The minimum allowed size is 150 pixels, and the maximum is 800 pixels.
- Select the desired checkboxes to Include Arrows on axes.
- Toggle Graph Title on or off to include or exclude an overall graph title.
- Toggle Graph Labels on or off to include or exclude top, right, left, and bottom graph labels.
- Toggle Coordinates on Hover on to enable the display of coordinates to students when hovering over a plotted point.
Graph Attributes
- (Optional) Type a graph title into the text field. If untitled, this space will be blank in the student view.
- (Optional) Type labels into the top, right, left, and/or bottom text fields. If unlabeled, these spaces will be blank in the student view.
Define Line Type(s) and Correct Response
- Under Choose Number of Lines, select the desired number of lines that students will be able to draw, either one or two lines.
- The Line A radio button is automatically selected. Select if the line should be Solid or Dashed. Select coordinates on the graph to plot the first point. Select a second pair of coordinates to plot the second point on the line, determining the slope.
- (Optional) If allowing students to draw two lines, select the Line B radio button to switch from Line A to Line B. Select if the line should be Solid or Dashed. Select coordinates on the graph to plot the first point. Select a second pair of coordinates to plot the second point on the line, determining the slope.
Once plotted, any point can be relocated by selecting and dragging the point to the desired location.
- Select the Solution Set radio button to switch from plotting lines to selecting the Solution Set. Select the desired section created by the plotted line or lines; the selected section will highlight.
- Select Reset to clear the graph of all plotted lines and selected solution set. A warning message will pop up; select OK to confirm, or Cancel to keep the current settings.
Plotted points for Line A and Line B can be altered at any time. However, if the Solution Set has been selected, selecting a line radio button will prompt a popup message noting that the Solution Set will be cleared. Select Clear Solution Set to continue and alter the lines; select Cancel to retain the current lines and Solution Set.
The automatic scoring system will count a student response as correct if the line(s) and solution set are in the same location as the Correct Response. This means that students will be counted as correct, even if they plot different points or plot the lines in reversed order.
Next Steps
To learn more about creating different item types, take a look at the other articles in the Item Types manual.