DCF Cymru Digital competence for Wales

Cover Lessons

Cover lesson ideas linking to the DCF, for a range of subjects, both offline and digital.

Clear

Logic Gates in Real Life

Year 10 · Computer Science · Intermediate

DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling

Pupils express five real devices - a car interior light, a microwave interlock, a fire alarm with a silence button, a two-way landing light and a three-input greenhouse fan - as Boolean expressions and complete a full truth table for each. They then use a truth table to prove that a wrongly wired alarm fails.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Pen and paper

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Creating a Video Pitch

Year 10 · Design Technology · Advanced

DCF: Producing → Creating digital content

Pupils script and storyboard a 90-second funding pitch for their packaging design, with shot framing, dialogue and durations that must total exactly 90 seconds at 2.5 words a second. They film it on a school device, keeping the file inside the class folder.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Tablet or Smartphone

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Designing Sustainable Packaging

Year 10 · Design Technology · Intermediate

DCF: Producing → Creating digital content

Pupils size a carton around six Welsh cakes, draw the net to scale and prove it closes by checking the four side faces against the perimeter. They then choose materials from a datasheet, stating the honest drawback of each, and cost the board for 120 boxes.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Collaborative Drama Script

Year 10 · Drama · Intermediate

DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Collaboration

Groups of three write one two-page scene to a fixed commission, rotating through the roles of Writer, Editor and Continuity. They hand in the scene in standard script layout together with a change log naming who changed what and why.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Analysing Fake News

Year 10 · English · Advanced

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content

Pupils judge three conflicting reports of the same invented local news story against one evaluation grid, quoting the evidence behind every verdict. They then rewrite the least reliable report accurately in about 120 words and record what they removed and why.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Email Etiquette for Jobs

Year 10 · English · Intermediate

DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication

Pupils find and fix the ten faults in a disastrous job application email, writing out the corrected line for each one. They then draft their own application email for the same advertised vacancy, answering both questions the advert asks.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Digital Tools for Accessibility

Year 10 · IT · Intermediate

DCF: Citizenship → Health and well-being

Pupils match six real built-in accessibility features — Narrator, Immersive Reader, VoiceOver, TalkBack, browser zoom and live captions — to the barrier each removes, then audit a deliberately inaccessible school notice against the four WCAG principles and rewrite the worst of it.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Music Sequencing Plan

Year 10 · Music · Intermediate

DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content

Pupils plan a 16-bar backing track in 4/4 at 120 BPM on paper: the timing arithmetic, a bar-by-bar arrangement grid in four-bar phrases, a 16-step drum grid and named sound choices. The plan must be complete enough for somebody else to build it in a sequencer.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Pen and paper

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Online Communities and Religion

Year 10 · RE · Intermediate

DCF: Citizenship → Identity, image and reputation

Pupils decide three genuine online dilemmas faced by a Welsh chapel livestreaming its service, a synagogue whose members are offline for Shabbat, and a mosque youth group whose sermon was clipped out of context. They then write a six-clause code of conduct all three could sign.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Science Experiment Write-up

Year 10 · Science · Intermediate

DCF: Producing → Creating digital content

Pupils process the raw results of a rates-of-reaction investigation, exclude and explain the anomalous reading, and produce a formatted report with the six standard headings, a captioned results table and a labelled graph. No practical work and no chemicals are needed.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Copyright in Art

Year 11 · Art · Advanced

DCF: Citizenship → Digital rights, licensing and ownership

Pupils act as copyright checker for a Year 11 exhibition: they calculate exact expiry dates, audit six real reuse scenarios against UK copyright exceptions and Creative Commons licence terms, and write printable attribution lines. Paper-based throughout.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Debating AI in Art

Year 11 · Art · Advanced

DCF: Citizenship → Digital rights, licensing and ownership

Pupils are allocated a side on the motion that AI-generated images should not be accepted into art competitions, build a case from three stimulus viewpoints and a dated facts box, then write a 150-word closing speech. They must also state who owns a computer-generated work in UK law.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Digital Art Portfolio Curation

Year 11 · Art · Advanced

DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content

Pupils cut a twelve-piece body of work down to a five-piece online portfolio, writing a counted 40 to 60 word rationale for every selection and a 60-word portfolio statement. They then plan the export sizes, file naming and image credits.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Fact-Checking Historical Claims

Year 11 · History · Advanced

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content

Pupils check six circulating claims about the Aberfan disaster of 1966 against the government inquiry summary, the British Geological Survey and legislation.gov.uk, recording a traceable verdict for each in a verification log. They then write a sourced correction note for the most damaging claim.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example

Mathematical Modelling of Epidemics

Year 11 · Maths · Advanced

DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling

Pupils turn a written description of an outbreak into the SIR recurrence relations and run them for 30 days in a spreadsheet, or 14 days on paper. They locate the peak, test the model by checking that S plus I plus R stays equal to the population, halve the transmission rate, and evaluate the model's assumptions.

Resources required

Tools required

  • Computer/Laptop

Software / weblinks

See a completed example