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Classifier Scenario Builder

Run the Classifier Scenario Builder MicroSim Fullscreen
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About This MicroSim

The Concept Classifier Type is the generator skill's sorting quiz: each question shows a scenario and asks which category bucket it belongs to. All of its content lives in a data.json file, one object per scenario, with these fields:

Field Holds
id A number that identifies the scenario
scenario The text to classify
correctAnswer The one right category
options The correct answer and three distractors
explanation Why the answer is right, shown after answering
hint A nudge that does not give the answer away

This builder is a small Builder MicroSim for writing one such object. The form on the left has the seven fields. The quiz card on the right is drawn as a learner would see it, with the four options in shuffled order, and it updates as you type. Three buttons test the draft:

  • Check quality flags an empty field, a correct answer that is missing or repeated among the options, an option far longer than the others (test-wise learners pick the longest), and a hint that repeats the answer. It also reminds you of the one check that strings cannot do: make sure exactly one option is defensible. Try to argue for each distractor; if one holds up, rewrite it, then tick the checkbox.
  • Show JSON prints the scenario in the data.json shape, ready to copy.
  • Try as learner makes the card playable: click an option, or use the hint first, and read the feedback and explanation a learner would see.

The Start from menu loads the chapter's example about symmetry fabrication, a flawed draft with three planted problems, or a blank form. When the page is narrower than 700 pixels, the form and the preview stack, and the quality report and JSON take the preview's place when you ask for them.

Learning objective: The learner will write a classifier scenario, four options, a hint and an explanation, and will check that exactly one option is defensible.

Bloom's taxonomy level: Create (verb: write)

How to Use

  1. Choose Start from: flawed draft and press Check quality. Fix each flagged problem in the form and watch the checks update as you type.
  2. Read the long distractor about image-model drift. Could an expert defend it for this scenario? If so, rewrite it into a clearly wrong but plausible option.
  3. Press Try as learner and answer the card, once with the hint and once without.
  4. Choose Start from: blank form and write your own scenario from the anti-patterns in Chapter 11. Press Show JSON when every check passes.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

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<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/microsims/sims/classifier-scenario-builder/main.html"
        height="837px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Audience

Teachers, instructional designers, learning-technology developers and learning-analytics practitioners (college undergraduate and professional development).

Duration

20 minutes

Prerequisites

  • The Concept Classifiers and Sorting Quizzes section of Chapter 11
  • The poster anti-patterns listed in Chapter 11 (symmetry fabrication, meta-source citation, round-trip marketing statistics, geographic misattribution, image-model number drift)

Activities

  1. Repair (5 min): Fix the flawed draft until every automatic check passes. Explain which fix mattered most for a learner.
  2. Write (10 min): From a blank form, write two scenarios for different anti-patterns. Each distractor must name a real misconception, not a joke option.
  3. Swap and defend (5 min): Trade JSON with a partner. Try as learner, then try to defend one of your partner's distractors. If you can, the partner rewrites it.

Assessment

  • Two scenarios that pass all automatic checks.
  • A partner's written attempt to defend each distractor, and the author's response.
  • The exported JSON, checked for the fields id, scenario, correctAnswer, options, explanation and hint.

References

  1. Multiple choice - Wikipedia - Background on item writing, including distractors and cues such as option length.
  2. JSON - Wikipedia - The data format of the classifier's data.json file.
  3. p5.js createInput() reference - The builtin input used for the form's single-line fields.
  4. p5.js createElement() reference - Used to create the scenario and explanation text areas.