Matching Widget

Use matching when the learning task is about relationships: term to definition, cause to effect, word to translation, or image label to description.

Select the matching activity on the canvas and click the floating ⚙ Configure button to open its setup dialog — the pairs, Randomize Matches, and scoring all live there. See Configuring a Matching Activity for the full walkthrough.

Settings to know

• Pairs are the prompts and matches learners connect. The left (Prompt) and right (Match) of each pair sit side by side as you edit them.
• Images — either side of a pair can show an image instead of text. Use the image button next to a field to pick a picture from your media library (great for matching a photo to a word, or a symbol to its name). The same picker the multiple choice widget uses. Once a side has a picture, its text box says Describe the picture: students don't see what you type there, but a screen reader says it for the picture, so describe what the photo shows without naming the answer. A side with no text is read as "Picture prompt 1" or "Picture match 2", never the image's file name, which could give the answer away. _Step-by-step: Match pictures to their words._
• Randomize Matches shuffles the answer (right) column for learners. The prompts on the left always stay in the order you wrote them, and a shuffle never leaves every answer sitting beside its own prompt.

For each pair, write the prompt and the correct match — or pick an image for one or both sides.

Shape cards

Either side of a pair can be a shape that Berdee draws for you, instead of words or a picture: match each shape to its name, or a shape to the same shape turned. Click the shapes button beside a side to draw one, then click its thumbnail to open the shape editor (kind, corners, turn, size, colours, near-miss and description, as for multiple choice shape choices). Copy from copies a shape from any other card, so "the same shape, turned" takes one click.

Every card draws its shape in the same-sized space, so the same shape is exactly the same size on both sides. A shape card is read to screen readers by its description ("a shape with 3 straight sides and 3 corners"), so the card on the left never says the answer on the right. Two cards that draw exactly the same shape get the "read the same" warning; two different triangles don't, even though their descriptions match. Different shapes with the same number of sides read the same too (a square, a rectangle and a trapezoid are all "a shape with 4 straight sides and 4 corners"), with no warning, so a screen-reader user can't tell them apart. Type your own words over the description for those cards, such as 4 equal sides and 2 long sides, 2 short sides. Step by step: Match each shape to the same shape, turned builds four pairs of a shape and its turned twin.

Read choices aloud

Both columns can say themselves, so a child who can't read yet can still match. Turn it on in the Read choices aloud section of the ⚙ Configure dialog; it's off until you do.

• Tap to hear, tap again to choose (the setting you get when you turn it on): the first tap on a card says it and marks it with a dashed outline; a second tap picks it to start a pairing.
• Speaker on each choice: a speaker in each card's corner says it; tapping anywhere else on the card picks it, as usual.
• Read all (on by default): a speaker button on the widget's corner says the prompts from top to bottom, then the matches, outlining each card as it's said. Any tap stops it.

Hearing a card never picks it, starts a line or records an attempt. A shape card says "this one" unless you give it Spoken words, so hearing it never names the shape. Each side of a pair has its own Spoken words (blank means its text) and Say nothing, so a picture card can say "This animal" rather than the answer. Voice, Generate audio for all choices and the one-voice-at-a-time rule work as they do for multiple choice. Keyboard users press H to hear the card in focus; Enter and Space still pick.

On the attempt page, the answer gets a line like "Heard 5 of 6 cards before answering", counting both columns.

Grading setup

Matching supports grading. The grading controls are in the Scoring section of the ⚙ Configure dialog.

• Scoring (the On/Off switch at the top of the section) turns grading on or off for the matching activity.
• The widget's name is the readable label for this answer in results and conditions. Rename it at the top of the properties panel — see Widgets and widget settings.
• Points sets how much the activity is worth.
• While Scoring is on, the activity counts toward both the scene score and the lesson score.
• Group lets you include the activity in a custom grading group.

Reacting to a pairing

Use Behaviors to answer a pairing the moment it's made. On Wrong Selected runs for every wrong pairing a learner makes, so each wrong guess gets your hint, not just the first one. Making the same pairing again doesn't run it again. On All Correct Selected runs once, when every pair is right. Details: Events, Actions, and Conditions.

Starting over with Reset

Matching has a Reset action. Add a "Try again" button and give it an action that runs the matching activity's Reset: every line the learner drew is cleared and they can pair the items again. Reset leaves a submitted (locked) activity alone. See Widget State and Actions. _Example: Build a matching game with instant feedback adds a wrong-pairing message, confetti for a full set, and a Start over button._

How to set up the content

Matching is one-to-one: every prompt has exactly one answer, and no two prompts share one. Give every answer different wording. Matching is graded by pair, not by what the answer says, so if two answers both read "Bark", a learner who picks the "wrong" Bark sees a match that looks right and is marked wrong. The Configure dialog warns you when two answers or two prompts read the same.

To sort several items into shared groups ("which animals live on the farm?"), use Drop Bucket instead.

Useful setting combinations

• Randomize Matches on:

Best for repeated practice where answer position should change.

• Selected and highlight colors:

Best when learners need clear feedback while they pair items. The correct and wrong colors only appear after a Submit button locks the activity, and they color the connecting lines, not the items.

• Matching + score widget:

Best for quick review activities.

• Matching + button submission:

Best when learners should complete every pair before checking.

Strong use cases

• Term-definition review.
• Matching historical figures to accomplishments.
• Pairing formulas with names or meanings.

Great pairings with other widgets

• Pair matching with text to explain the rule or strategy before students begin.
• Pair it with image if prompts or answers need a visual reference.
• Pair it with button for manual submission.
• Pair it with timer to turn a review set into a speed round.