Cover Lessons
Cover lesson ideas linking to the DCF, for a range of subjects, both offline and digital.
Comparing Fitness Results with Normative Data
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Numeracy in PE: interpreting fitness test data, preparing for the GCSE Physical Education and Health requirement to compare results with normative data. Using invented practice norms, pupils rate a Year 9 pupil's sit and reach, sprint, broad jump and sit-up results (including a boundary value and a test where lower is better), find the median, mean and range of a class data set and tally its ratings, calculate percentage improvement after a 6-week plan, question how far the data can be trusted, and write an 80 to 120 word analysis with next steps.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Comparing Fitness Results with Normative Data
- Stimulus: Lowri's fitness tests, results and practice norms
- Stimulus: Class sit and reach results (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: ratings, class averages and frequencies, percentage changes and model analysis
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Evaluating Wearable Fitness Tracker Data and Privacy
DCF: Citizenship → Health and well-being
Pupils evaluate data from an invented wrist fitness tracker worn by a Year 9 sprinter over 6 training sessions against chest-strap and stopwatch benchmarks. They calculate heart-rate errors, mean error across sprint sessions (12.5 bpm) versus steady runs (2 bpm), 2-minute heart-rate recovery rates per minute, and GPS percentage inaccuracy on curved track sprints (6% to 9%) versus a 2,000 m straight run (1%). They then audit four privacy and well-being risks in the companion app, including public GPS maps starting and ending at a pupil's home address and late-night streak notifications, and write data-backed recommendations for school sport.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Evaluating Wearable Fitness Tracker Data and Privacy (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating Wearable Fitness Tracker Data and Privacy
- Stimulus: PulseBand Go 6-session heart-rate benchmark log, GPS track distances and app privacy settings
- Worked example and answer key: all heart-rate errors, recovery rates, GPS percentage inaccuracies, privacy audit and model PE department recommendation
- Calculators, one per pupil or pair
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Match Analysis with Notational Data
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Pupils tally a 40-event coded log from the third quarter of an invented Year 9 netball match, split the turnovers by position, and complete a match summary with pass completion and shooting percentages for every quarter. They draw a paired bar chart of goals scored and conceded, then use the numbers and the coach's notes to explain where a 24–25 defeat was lost and what notational data cannot show. No exercise is done in the lesson.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Match Analysis with Notational Data (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Match Analysis with Notational Data
- Stimulus data: Llanbedr's third-quarter event log, 40 coded events (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: tally, match summary, bar chart and analysis
- Ruler and pencil for the bar chart
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Ruler
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (optional — COUNTIF tallies the CSV; the sheet works on paper)
- World Netball — the rules of netball, including positions and the three-second rule
- Wales Netball — the national governing body for netball in Wales
- Hwb — Welsh Government digital learning platform
Auditing App Permissions and Targeted Adverts on a Teen Phone
DCF: Citizenship → Identity, image and reputation
Pupils audit 6 installed apps on an invented Year 9 pupil's phone (a torch app asking for contacts and microphone, a step counter tracking 24-hour live location, a free photo filter selling biometric face tags, a bus timetable, a word puzzle and a homework planner) alongside a 7-day log of 80 targeted adverts. They calculate the percentage of adverts linked to late-night browsing and impulse spending, decide which permissions to revoke using data minimisation, and write a 5-point digital privacy action plan.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Auditing App Permissions and Targeted Adverts on a Teen Phone (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Auditing App Permissions and Targeted Adverts on a Teen Phone
- Stimulus: Ieuan's 6 smartphone app permission settings and 7-day log of 80 targeted adverts (one between two)
- Worked example and answer key: completed app permission audit, advert percentage calculations and model 5-point digital privacy action plan
- Calculators, one per pupil or pair
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Comparing Payslips, Deductions and Saving Plans for a First Job
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Pupils examine two sample monthly payslips for an 18-year-old lifeguard and a cafe supervisor at an invented Welsh leisure centre. They verify gross pay (basic hours plus overtime), spot an underpayment error of 3.5 overtime hours (£52.50), calculate 4% and 5% workplace pension deductions, find net take-home pay, and compare a 50/30/20 monthly budget against a spreadsheet savings model for a £600 driving-lesson fund.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Comparing Payslips, Deductions and Saving Plans for a First Job (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Comparing Payslips, Deductions and Saving Plans for a First Job
- Stimulus: Caerphilly Leisure Centre sample monthly payslips, payroll glossary and £600 driving-lesson spreadsheet model (one between two)
- Worked example and answer key: corrected lifeguard and supervisor payslips, 50/30/20 vs Plan B comparison, spreadsheet formulas and model payroll email
- Calculators, one per pupil or pair
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Modelling How Fast a Rumour Spreads
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Pupils build a mathematical model of how an untrue rumour about a pupil spreads through group chats at an invented Welsh school, using powers of 3 to find when it passes the whole school and the population of Wales. They work out the multiplier for different forwarding rules, test whether a rumour grows, stays level or dies out, and graph the models. They test whether a later correction with a smaller multiplier can ever catch up, judge the assumptions the model makes and plan the spreadsheet formulas that would run it. Finally, they use the multiplier to explain what each person can do to stop a rumour and where to get help.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Modelling How Fast a Rumour Spreads (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Modelling How Fast a Rumour Spreads
- Stimulus: one message, one Friday evening, a rumour at Ysgol Glan Tywi (invented scenario, model rules and sources of help)
- Worked example and answer key: completed tables for Models A to D and the correction, plotted graph, model answers, spreadsheet formulas and extension answers
- Coloured pencils for the graph (optional)
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Ruler
Software / weblinks
Screen Time and Sleep
DCF: Citizenship → Health and well-being
Pupils analyse an invented Year 9 pupil's two-week sleep diary, one week with her phone in the bedroom and one with it charging downstairs. They calculate sleep across midnight, compare school-night averages, draw a paired bar chart and test the results against NHS and Chief Medical Officer advice, explaining why a link is not proof. They finish by privately planning a fair test of their own evening habits.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Screen Time and Sleep (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Screen Time and Sleep
- Worked example and answer key: completed diary, averages, chart and interpretation
- Stimulus: Lowri's two-week sleep diary (CSV, optional computer route)
- Rulers and pencils for the bar chart
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Ruler
Software / weblinks
Evaluating Religious Websites
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Pupils score three websites about the Five Pillars of Islam against the same six criteria, correct the four factual errors on the unreliable one, and recommend a page for a Year 7 pupil with reasons. The websites are judged, never the faith.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Evaluating Religious Websites (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating Religious Websites
- Stimulus: three websites on the Five Pillars of Islam
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Following an Algorithm to Find the Date of Easter
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Pupils follow the anonymous Gregorian algorithm by hand to find the date of Easter Sunday, first learning div and mod with a calculator and then completing full trace tables for 2030 and 2031 after a worked example for 2027. They check every result against a table of real Easter dates, decompose the algorithm by matching each part to its job (the 19-year moon cycle, the church's full moon, the jump to Sunday) and complete a flowchart of the rule that Easter is the first Sunday after the church's full moon on or after 21 March. They count days across months to find Ash Wednesday and Pentecost, then explain in their own words why Easter moves, linking the resurrection, Passover, the spring full moon and the Julian calendar used by most Orthodox churches.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Following an Algorithm to Find the Date of Easter (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Following an Algorithm to Find the Date of Easter
- Stimulus: how the date of Easter is set, with Holy Week, the 19-year moon cycle and Easter dates 2020 to 2040 (one between two)
- Worked example and answer key: div and mod answers, trace tables for 2030 and 2031, completed flowchart, Ash Wednesday and Pentecost dates and a model RE explanation
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Evaluating Online Claims about Sports Recovery Drinks
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Pupils evaluate an invented social media influencer post promoting a sports recovery drink (HydraMax Pro) against an independent laboratory dataset and nutrition table. They compare sample size (6 people versus 60), control groups and funding bias, calculate percentage change improvements in 400 m sprint times and free-sugar content per 500 ml bottle, expose how a truncated vertical axis exaggerates a 2% difference into a bar five times taller, and write an evidence-based science fact-check post for their school sports council.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Evaluating Online Claims about Sports Recovery Drinks (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating Online Claims about Sports Recovery Drinks
- Stimulus: HydraMax Pro influencer post, independent laboratory trial, nutrition table and comparison bar charts
- Worked example and answer key: method audit, percentage change and sugar calculations, graph analysis and model fact-check post
- Calculators, one per pupil or pair
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Organising and Sharing Microscope Images of Cells
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Storing and sharing
Pupils sort out a badly named folder of Year 9 microscope photos from an invented Welsh school before it moves to Hwb cloud storage. They design a naming rule that records sample, magnification, date (YYYY-MM-DD) and group, rename or remove 10 files, plan a folder tree with version control, and set view and edit permissions that keep pupils' faces and names out of shared images. Along the way they calculate total magnification, use magnification = image size / actual size to find real cell sizes in micrometres, and use file size calculations in kB, MB and GB to plan a 3-2-1 back-up and check a 2 GB storage allowance. Pen and paper throughout.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Organising and Sharing Microscope Images of Cells (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Organising and Sharing Microscope Images of Cells
- Stimulus: Ysgol Cwm Dyfnant microscope photo folder printout, lab notes and fact card
- Worked example and answer key: renamed files, folder tree, sharing and back-up plan, and all magnification and file size calculations
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Researching Renewable Energy for Wales
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Pupils plan the research a Welsh hill village needs to choose a renewable energy source: they match each resource to its energy store, turn a vague question into a focused one with three sub-questions, and write search strings using operators such as site: and quotation marks. They score eight printed search results, a mix of real Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales pages and invented adverts, forums and blogs, then produce a research plan and a full reference.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Researching Renewable Energy for Wales (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Researching Renewable Energy for Wales
- Stimulus: Bryn Ysgawen village brief, science fact card and printed search results
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Computer/Laptop (optional)
Software / weblinks
Evaluating and Improving a Bilingual Event Webpage for an Eisteddfod
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Mae disgyblion yn gwerthuso ac yn gwella gwefan ddwyieithog ar gyfer Eisteddfod ysgol lle cafodd y Gymraeg ei chyfieithu gan beiriant heb ei gwirio. Pupils review an invented draft bilingual webpage for Eisteddfod Ysgol Cwm Deri where unchecked machine translation from English produced six literal errors (such as translating stage left as gadawodd y llwyfan, the stage departed, and free entry as mynediad rhydd). Using the English source notice and a structured bilingual glossary, pupils explain why each literal error fails, write the natural Welsh replacements, fix four layout, parity and accessibility flaws, and write a natural 4-sentence Welsh welcome paragraph and bilingual alt text.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Evaluating and Improving a Bilingual Event Webpage for an Eisteddfod (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating and Improving a Bilingual Event Webpage for an Eisteddfod
- Stimulus: Eisteddfod Ysgol Cwm Deri bilingual webpage draft, accessibility audit notes and Welsh-English glossary
- Worked example and answer key: all 6 corrected Welsh phrases, accessibility fixes, model Welsh welcome paragraph with translation and bilingual alt text
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Reading Welsh Festival Reviews to Compare Opinions and Evidence
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Mae disgyblion yn darllen tri adolygiad Cymraeg o wyl gerddoriaeth a bwyd ieuenctid, yn gwahaniaethu rhwng ffeithiau a barn, ac yn ysgrifennu ymateb cytbwys yn Gymraeg. Literacy in Welsh: understanding, response and analysis. Pupils read 3 short Welsh reviews of an invented youth music and street-food festival (Gwyl Cerdd Glan Taf), supported by a structured Welsh-English glossary. They match key opinion and contrast phrases (yn bendant, ar y llaw arall, yn anffodus, o'i gymharu a), separate verifiable facts from personal opinions, cross-check ticket prices (£12), band counts (8) and bus times (20:30) against the official timetable to expose an anonymous fake review posted before the gates opened, and write a balanced 70 to 90 word Welsh response.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Reading Welsh Festival Reviews to Compare Opinions and Evidence (board slides, timers and script)
- Pupil worksheet: Reading Welsh Festival Reviews to Compare Opinions and Evidence
- Stimulus: Gwyl Cerdd Glan Taf online reviews, official festival timetable and structured Welsh-English glossary
- Worked example and answer key: opinion phrase matches, fact versus opinion table, source verification key and model 83-word Welsh response with translation
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Welsh Podcast Script
DCF: Producing → Creating digital content
Mae disgyblion yn ysgrifennu sgript podlediad tair munud yn Gymraeg, gyda rhediad sy'n adio i 180 eiliad a nifer y geiriau'n cyfateb i ddwywaith yr eiliadau, ciwiau sain a thri chwestiwn agored. Pupils write a recording-ready three-minute Welsh podcast script; nothing is recorded or published.
Resources required
- Supply teacher presentation: Welsh Podcast Script (board slides, timers and script)
- Taflen waith / Pupil worksheet: Sgript podlediad Cymraeg
- Enghraifft / Worked example: a complete Welsh script with a full English translation for the cover teacher
- A clock or timer for reading the script aloud against the clock
- Lined paper for the full script
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop