TASK DEFINITION: You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or qualitative relationships such as a relationship in economics or a scientific law and a story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. You need to come up with a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph. The generated question should not be answerable without both the background and story. Write a question about the story that requires a relationship in the background paragraph to answer. Check whether your question requires both the background paragraph and the story to answer. If your question can be answered by only one of these, try to rewrite your question so that it requires both. Note that "flipping" a word in the question can give rise to a new question where the answer will be different from the original question. Often, "flipping" a word gives rise to flipping the direction of the relationship, for example, from "increase" to "decrease."
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in a substance or an object. The basic SI unit for mass is the kilogram (kg), but smaller masses may be measured in grams (g). To measure mass, you would use a balance. In the lab, mass may be measured with a triple beam balance or an electronic balance, but the old-fashioned balance pictured below may give you a better idea of what mass is. If both sides of this balance were at the same level, it would mean that the fruit in the left pan has the same mass as the iron object in the right pan. In that case, the fruit would have a mass of 1 kg, the same as the iron. As you can see, however, the fruit is at a higher level than the iron. This means that the fruit has less mass than the iron, that is, the fruit's mass is less than 1 kg. 
Story: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.                   
                                                  
Sarah is using a traditional balance to estimate the mass of her peppers. She wants to make 1 kg bushels to sell at the farmers market so she puts a 1 kg weight on the right side and the peppers on the left side.

SOLUTION: If the 1 kg weight is higher than the peppers does Sarah need to add more peppers or remove peppers?

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Another obvious change that occurs during puberty is rapid growth. This is called the adolescent growth spurt . In boys, it is controlled by testosterone. The rate of growth usually starts to increase relatively early in puberty. At its peak rate, growth in height is about 10 centimeters (almost 4 inches) per year in the average male. Growth generally remains rapid for several years. Growth and development of muscles occur toward the end of the growth spurt in height. Muscles may continue to develop and gain strength after growth in height is finished. 
Story: Adrian and Justin are brothers who are currently undergoing puberty. Adrian is nearing the end of puberty and his rate of height growth is low. Justin has just started puberty, though, and his rate of height growth is currently quite high.

SOLUTION: Who will experience development of their muscles later?

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Turner et al (2006) derived crash prediction models for this report’s predecessor and found a
pronounced ‘safety in numbers’ effect in the models. Using the crash prediction model for mid-block
locations, generic motorist and cyclist volumes can be used to demonstrate the impacts on the
expected crash rate of varying motor vehicle and cycle volumes. As shown in figure 2.20, an increase
in the proportion of cyclists to the overall traffic volume causes an increase in expected crashes at
mid-block locations, but the crash rate increases at a decreasing rate. That is to say, the crash rate per
cyclist goes down as the cycle volume increases. 
Story: Steven loves biking to get to and from places instead of driving his car. This weekend he is planning a long bike ride along the city streets to see some sites. He is however, concerned with traffic, and knows that it can sometimes be dangerous. He has wonder if he should travel with some friends for the ride, or just go alone.

SOLUTION:
Which would be the least crash prone way to travel for Steven?