Atomic Assessments: The Gridded Question Type

Authored by Tawny Hoskin

We love building quiz questions that are 1) self-graded, 2) interesting, and 3) are phone-friendly! Let me introduce you to the Gridded Question type – one of the 64 different item types in Atomic Assessments.

The Gridded Question type has been developed based on the STAAR science assessments standards (Griddable Questions For Science), which use a type of open-ended question known as a griddable item.

In this question type, students are presented with a grid of columns containing bubbles, with the numbers 0 to 9 in a vertical list underneath.

The answer grids can include a fixed decimal point, or floating decimal points where the top bubble in each column contains the decimal point.

Students enter their answer in the top input field by clicking (or “shading”) a numeral / decimal / plus / minus bubble underneath, or they can type directly inside the input field and the question will automatically “shade” the corresponding bubble in the column underneath.

When to use it?

The purpose of griddable items is to provide students with the opportunity to derive answers independently without being influenced by answer choices provided with the questions.

This question type is not only ideal if you want to truly test student knowledge, but this question type is also graded automatically; no tedious, manual, grading required!

How to use it?

First, make sure Atomic Assessments is installed in your Canvas instance. If it is not, you can schedule a demo and get a free 30 day trial for this Canvas plugin. The Gridded Question can be found when you add a new item and navigate to the “Other” tab.

This question type can be used in summative and formative assessments by embedding it into a Canvas page or in quiz form, both options have a wide variety of configuration options available (unscored options, response specific feedback, multiple attempts, penalty points, etc.).

We hope you enjoy creating assessments with Atomic Assessments!

How do have you used or how do you plan to use the Gridded question type? Happy Gridding 🙂