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Matching and variants

A matching question essentially presents two lists of items and requires the student to match one item from the first list to an item from the second. Matching questions are very versatile and can be used to present a broad range of exercises. They can also use three different ways of interacting with the computer. The example below requires the text label to be matched to the letter on the diagram, by selecting from a pull-down list.

A pull-down list matching question with labelled image

Other types of matching interaction are:

  • Drag and drop - see later page for an example
  • Matrix: This is where the question is presented as a matrix of columns and rows and the student has to select the button that shows the correct match between the two, for example:

A Matrix question

Tip: One potential problem with matching questions is that they can be solved by a process of elimination, where you only need to know a couple of the answers to be able to narrow down the remaining options. One way of preventing this is to set up the question so that the number of items on each side of the question is asymmetrical.

There follows some more examples of different styles of matching question. In the later section we will see how the matching question can be used to create questions which test in depth knowledge and problem-solving.