Cover Lessons
Cover lesson ideas linking to the DCF, for a range of subjects, both offline and digital.
Weather Data Analysis
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Pupils calculate the mean, median, mode and range of real Met Office 2023 data for Valley, Aberporth and Ross-on-Wye, draw a climate graph and use their own figures to explain why the inland station has the larger temperature range and the lower rainfall.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Weather Data Analysis
- Stimulus dataset: Welsh and border station weather 2023 (CSV)
- Calculator, one per pupil
- Graph paper, one sheet per pupil
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Analysing Historical Bias Online
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Pupils audit two web accounts of the Merthyr Rising of 1831 for loaded language and for what each one leaves out, quoting the exact words that give each writer away. They finish with a written verdict on which account is more useful to a historian and what warning would have to accompany it.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Analysing Historical Bias Online
- Stimulus: two web accounts of the Merthyr Rising, June 1831
- Highlighters or coloured pencils (one between two)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Collaborative Maths Quiz
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Collaboration
In teams of three, with allocated roles, pupils write one fifteen-mark round of algebra questions in a single shared document, including a mark scheme that awards method marks. They then swap rounds with another team, sit it, mark it against its author team's scheme and act on the feedback they receive.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Collaborative Maths Quiz
- One shared class folder for the team documents (paper swap works instead)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace shared documents
- NRICH algebra problems - University of Cambridge
- BBC Bitesize GCSE Maths
Composing a French Email
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication
Pupils reply in French to an email from a partner school, producing a 120 to 150 word message with a subject line, three tenses and justified opinions. Marks turn on holding the formal vous register throughout and on getting every accent right.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Composing a French Email
- French dictionaries (one per pair) if the department has a class set
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft Word or Google Docs - drafts only, nothing is sent
- BBC Bitesize - KS3 French
- Larousse French-English dictionary
Reviewing Online Translations
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Pupils compare a correct French email with a flawed machine translation of it, logging each error by type and quoting the French that caused it. They then produce a clean translation and a written judgement on when machine translation can and cannot be trusted.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Reviewing Online Translations
- Stimulus: a French paragraph and its machine translation
- French dictionaries (one per pair)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Creative Commons Licences
DCF: Citizenship → Digital rights, licensing and ownership
Pupils match eight musician scenarios to CC BY, BY-SA, BY-NC, BY-ND, BY-NC-SA, BY-NC-ND or CC0, explain two uses that breach NonCommercial and NoDerivatives, and write a TASL credit line. They finish by choosing a licence for their own class track and stating what it gives away.
Resources required
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Digital Synthesis in Music
DCF: Producing → Creating digital content
Pupils learn which harmonics sine, triangle, square and sawtooth waves contain, then design three patches on paper - a sub bass, a bell pluck and a slow pad - with real cutoff and ADSR values. They build them in a browser synthesiser and record how the sound differed from the prediction.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Digital Synthesis in Music
- Headphones (one pair per pupil, or one per group of three)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
- Headphones
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
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating Religious Websites
- Stimulus: three websites on the Five Pillars of Islam
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
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
- 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