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Authoring your first GeoGebra question

Information from GeoGebra applets can be linked to STACK inputs and then assessed by potential response trees in the normal way. The purpose of this document is to help you author your first question using GeoGebra as an input.

Reference documentation for using GeoGebra applets is elsewhere.

Before we start

This document assumes you have worked through the following sections of the Author quick-start guide.

We strongly recommend you do not use an HTML-aware editor when editing STACK questions containing GeoGebra. Instead turn off the editor within Moodle and edit the raw HTML. Individual users can set their editor preferences by following:

User Dashboard > Preferences > Editor preferences > Manage editors

A note on licenses: Please note that the GeoGebra's license does not match the STACK licence. Users of STACK remain entirely responsible for complying with licenes for materials, and media embedded inside STACK questions.

Question design

The goal is to create the following question.

Move the points and (on a GeoGebra applet) so that the line is perpendicular to a given line shown in the applet.

Notes.

  • and are defined by STACK in the question variables. Ultimately these could be randomly generated. They illustrate how to set values in an applet.
  • We should listen to the gradient of the line as an input. This illustrates how to watch a value in GeoGebra and link it to a STACK input.
  • and are points in the GeoGebra applet. We need to remember the position a student leaves the points in.
  • In this question, the potential response tree should multiply the variable by the gradient of to check this is . We don't worry about the position of the student's line otherwise.

1. Create the GeoGebra applet

The first step is to create a GeoGebra applet and publish it online. You will need the material id from the URL in GeoGebra to link the worksheet to a STACK question.

  1. Login to https://www.geogebra.org/
  2. Create a blank applet directly on the GeoGebra website.
  3. Create numbers m=2 and c=3. These will be given a value by STACK when the question is started by the student, but we must set sensible initial values.
  4. Create the line l=m*x+c.
  5. Create points A and B and a line through them. Call this line f.
  6. Create the new variable ans1=Slope(f). We will setup the question to a STACK input will watch the value of this variable ans1.
  7. Hide the slope, and other object names as needed in the GGB applet.
  8. Hide the algebra window on GeoGebra, leaving only the geometry window.
  9. Save and publish the GeoGebra file. You will need the id from the URL. For example, if your GeoGebra file has URL https://www.geogebra.org/calculator/anr6ujyf then the id is the last part anr6ujyf. This code is needed to link STACK to GeoGebra, for the value of material_id. E.g. params["material_id"]="anr6ujyf"; within the GeoGebra block.

2. Create a minimal STACK question containing the materials

Create a new question. Set the question variables. Initially the question variables are fixed values. Later these values will be randomly generated.

m:2;
c:-1;
ta:-1/m;

Set the question text - before entering make sure that the editor is switched to html-mode.:

[[geogebra set="c,m" watch="ans1"]]
params["material_id"]="anr6ujyf";
[[/geogebra]]
Move the points \(A\) and \(B\) so that the line \(AB\) is perpendicular the line shown in the applet.
[[input:ans1]][[validation:ans1]]

Notice this uses the [[geogebra]] question block. Then complete the question as follows.

  1. Make sure the question text is "HTML" format (not Moodle auto format, or something else).
  2. Input ans1 should have Model answer equal to -1/m.
  3. Input ans1 should "Forbid float" set to no/false (GeoGebra will return floating point numbers)
  4. Set up the PRT with node 1 testing ATNumAbsolute(ans1*m, -1, 0.1). This checks the product of the gradient of the lines is within of - i.e. are they close to perpendicular. (You could opt for a strict algebraic equivalence ATAlgEquiv(ans1*m, -1) if you prefer.)

Notes

  • The tag [[geogebra set="c,m" watch="ans1"]] contains information about which variables within GeoGebra to set and which to watch.
  • There are strict naming conventions which must be followed, e.g. names must match in GeoGebra and in STACK. This is explained in more detail in the GeoGebra reference documentation.

3. Preliminary test of the STACK question

At this point you should have a working, minimal STACK question. So save and preview the question.

  1. Confirm the GeoGebra worksheet shows in the question and points and are visible to move.
  2. Confirm as you move the points that the gradient is placed into input ans1, which at this point you can see.

4. Remember the positions of points and

While the question sets and watches values inside the applet, the Moodle quiz also needs to remember the positions the student left and in so that these are retained when the page reloads (after check, or navigation).

For this, add a tag remember with both points and to the block heading:

[[geogebra set="c,m" watch="ans1" remember="A,B"]]
params["material_id"]="anr6ujyf";
[[/geogebra]]
Move the points \(A\) and \(B\) so that the line \(AB\) is perpendicular the line shown in the applet.
[[input:ans1]][[validation:ans1]]
[[input:remember]][[validation:remember]]

Notice two changes. (1) there is a remember argument in the geogebra block tag and (2) there is a new input in the question. To actually store the coordinates of and , we need to add in a new input [[input:remember]][[validation:remember]] at the end of the question text. Verify the question text and update the form, to set up this new input as follows.

  1. The remember input must be of type string.
  2. For the "model answer" use the empty string "".
  3. We don't want to show the model answer of "remember" as part of the teacher's final answer (if available during the quiz) so hide the input from students with the STACK "extra option" hideanswer in the "remember" input.
  4. Values in remember are not available to the PRT and can not be used to calculate values in STACK feedback.

5. Polish and tidy the question.

Once you have the question working, you can add better feedback, add a worked solution, create random versions, and so on. For example you could choose

    m:rand_with_step(2,3,1);
    c:rand_with_step(2,3,1);

Then add in an answer note such as \[ y={@m*x+c@} \]. Authoring quick start 4 provides advice on randomisation.

You could also have an additional algebraic input asking the student to find the equation of their line. At this point there are lots of options for combining a geometric diagram within a larger question.

You should hide the inputs from students with CSS after testing, e.g. <p style="display:none">...</p>.

For reference the full question text should now be

[[geogebra set="c,m" watch="ans1" remember="A,B"]]
params["material_id"]="anr6ujyf";
[[/geogebra]]
Move the points \(A\) and \(B\) so that the line \(AB\) is perpendicular the line shown in the applet.
<p style="display:none">
[[input:ans1]][[validation:ans1]]
[[input:remember]][[validation:remember]]
</p>