Cover Lessons
Cover lesson ideas linking to the DCF, for a range of subjects, both offline and digital.
Copyright in Art
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
- Pupil worksheet: Copyright in Art
- Stimulus: copyright and licence facts sheet
- Highlighters (one per pair)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Debating AI in Art
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
Digital Art Portfolio Curation
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
Improving a Digital Art Presentation
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Practice for how GCSE Art and Design Unit 1: Portfolio and Unit 2: Externally Set Assignment can be presented as a digital presentation (subject content 1.2.7, 1.2.8 and 1.2.10, across AO1 to AO4). Pupils evaluate an invented pupil's 6-slide practice presentation on the example big idea cynefin, including research on the Welsh painter Ernest Zobole. They judge layout and content slide by slide, calculate scale factors to find blurred and distorted images, redesign one slide and rewrite its annotation, then justify their three most important changes to a critical reader in 120 to 150 words. Practice only, not NEA work.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Improving a Digital Art Presentation
- Stimulus: Nia's practice presentation on cynefin (six slides, image file sizes, feedback and assessment objectives)
- Worked example and answer key: evaluation grid, image check, redesigned slide and justification note
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Ruler
Software / weblinks
Judging a Digital Marketing Campaign
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
GCSE Business Unit 3: Business Strategies for Success, section 3.4 Marketing strategies for success (promotion, the impact of technology on promotion, loyalty card data as internal research) with gross profit margin from section 3.3.4. Pupils turn the results of an invented Cynon Valley bakery's £1,200 promotion (social media adverts, search engine advertising, loyalty emails and leaflets) into click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per order and gross profit after promotion. They test the owner's claim that social media won, revise their conclusion when loyalty data arrives 8 weeks later, and write an exam-style recommendation on how to spend the next budget.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Judging a Digital Marketing Campaign
- Stimulus: Pobty'r Cwm gift box promotion dossier (results, chart, customer comments and new evidence)
- Stimulus: Pobty'r Cwm promotion results (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: performance table, profit after promotion, revised conclusion and model recommendation
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Highlighters
- Computer/Laptop (optional)
Software / weblinks
Redrafting a Test Commentary for a Bug Fix
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
A literacy lesson in Computer Science on proofreading, editing and improving, building towards the written commentary on testing and refining in GCSE Computer Science Unit 2. It is practice with an invented program, not assessed work. Pupils trace an invented cinema's ticket price program to find a boundary bug, then proofread a pupil's weak test commentary and code at least 10 problems: spelling, punctuation, grammar, vague words, calling a logic error a syntax error, missing retest evidence and an untrue claim that there are no bugs. They replace vague phrases with precise technical terms, reorganise the commentary into what went wrong, what was changed and how it was retested, write a redraft of about 150 words, and improve it after feedback from a partner.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Redrafting a Test Commentary for a Bug Fix
- Stimulus: Sinema Aberlliw ticket bug report (the brief, the Python program, the test table, the first draft and useful technical words)
- Worked example and answer key: the trace, every proofreading correction, precise terms, the structure and a model redraft
- A different coloured pen for editing
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pen
Software / weblinks
Testing and Debugging a Python Program
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
GCSE Computer Science Unit 2: Computer Programming, Sections 2.4.1 Testing and 2.4.2 Refinement and evaluation, with the validation routines of Section 2.2.1. Using an invented swimming pool booking program in Python 3, not the class's pre-release brief, pupils design a test plan with typical, extreme and erroneous data, trace every test by hand to record actual results including crashes, find and fix four planted faults (a boundary error, an or that should be and, a wrong discount calculation and missing input validation), write a test commentary for the client, then refine a function for a changed requirement and add new tests.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Testing and Debugging a Python Program
- Stimulus: Pwll Glan-y-Dŵr client brief, Python program listing and Python facts
- Worked example and answer key: full test plan with results, the four fixes, commentary and the refined function
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Tracing Search Algorithms
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Pupils trace linear search and binary search on the same sorted list of 16 values, filling in low, high and mid on every pass, including a search for a value that is not there. They work out worst-case comparisons for lists of up to three million items, then use a trace to find and fix the one-character bug in a broken binary search.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Tracing Search Algorithms
- Stimulus: search algorithm reference sheet (sorted list, linear search, binary search and a broken version)
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
- Computer Science Field Guide - searching algorithms
- CS Unplugged - searching algorithms
- WJEC - GCSE Computer Science specification and resources
- Python with IDLE or any Python editor, to code and test both searches
Choosing How to Communicate at Work in Welsh
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication
Mae disgyblion yn darllen pecyn staff canolfan awyr agored ddychmygol: e-bost gan y rheolwr, polisi cyfathrebu a rota. Maen nhw'n dewis y ffordd orau o gyfathrebu mewn chwe sefyllfa waith (e-bost, galwad ffôn, sgwrs grŵp, post, cyhoeddiad) ac yn cyfiawnhau pob dewis. Exam practice for GCSE Core Cymraeg Unit 3: Preparing for the Future (3.1.1 Writing in forms such as email, text message and marketing material, and 3.1.3 the world of work). Pupils then write an informal text to a colleague with ti, a formal 120 to 150 word e-mail to the manager with chi in four tenses, a 50 to 70 word social media post, and a short English to Welsh translation for a notice.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Choosing How to Communicate at Work in Welsh
- Stimulus: Canolfan Nant Llwyd summer staff pack (manager's e-mail, communication policy, rota and a note), with an English translation
- Worked example: answer key, channel choices with reasons, a model text, a 124-word formal e-mail and a model post, with English translations
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Judging Sources for a Researched Presentation
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Mae disgyblion yn barnu chwe ffynhonnell ar y cwestiwn 'A ddylai'r gyfraith warchod enwau tai a lleoedd Cymraeg?': adroddiad ymchwil, erthygl newyddion, blog asiant tai, post fforwm, ateb sgwrsfot a ffeithiau go iawn gan Cadw. Maen nhw'n sgorio dibynadwyedd a dilysrwydd pob un gyda thystiolaeth ac yn dal y sgwrsfot yn dyfeisio deddf. Practice for GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature Unit 3: Attitudes, Task 2, the individual research presentation (3.1.4, the reliability and validity of sources), on an invented practice topic: practice only, not NEA work. Pupils reference three sources in writing and out loud, and plan a one-side notes sheet of short bullet points that builds to a personal view based on evidence.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Judging Sources for a Researched Presentation
- Stimulus: research pack of six sources on Welsh house and place names, five invented and one summarising Cadw, with an English summary
- Worked example: judged sources, the chatbot check, references and a model notes sheet, with English translations
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Highlighters
Software / weblinks
Evaluating a Dance for Camera Film
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
GCSE Dance Unit 3: Dance Appreciation, content 3.1.1 to 3.1.3: analysing an unseen work, including its physical setting (dance for camera and site specific staging), aural setting, devices and implied meaning. Pupils study a printed dossier on an invented dance film set in a Cynon Valley colliery engine house: a shot-by-shot log, formation diagrams, viewer retention data, critics' reviews and comments. They answer select-one, short and extended questions in the style of the on-screen examination, evaluate how effectively the camera communicates the implied meaning, calculate where viewers were lost, and recommend three specific, evidence-based changes to the edit.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating a Dance for Camera Film
- Stimulus: Gwythien dance for camera dossier (shot list, formations, viewer data, reviews and comments)
- Worked example and answer key: exam-style answers, model extended evaluation and re-edit plan
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Highlighters
Software / weblinks
Evaluating a Prototype with User Data
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Practises GCSE Design and Technology Unit 2: Design Project, 2.1.6 Analysing and evaluating design decisions and prototypes, using an invented pupil's jar opener for older people with arthritis (practice only, not NEA work). From a test pack with a specification, workshop tests, client and expert views and a 10-person user trial, pupils calculate success rates, mean times, percentage improvement, grouped comfort ratings and material cost, judge nine specification points, test and rewrite the designer's conclusion, find weaknesses in how the data was collected, write a 150 to 200 word evaluation and plan three tested modifications.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Evaluating a Prototype with User Data
- Stimulus: The Gafael jar opener prototype test pack (specification, tests, interviews and user trial)
- Stimulus: Gafael user trial data (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: calculations, specification check, rewritten conclusion, evaluation and modifications
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Highlighters
- Computer/Laptop (optional)
Software / weblinks
Planning a Project with a Gantt Chart
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Pupils turn a Year 11 pupil's ten-task plan for a desk lamp prototype into earliest start and finish weeks, draw it as a Gantt chart against a 14-week hand-in, and identify the critical path, the contingency and the float on the other tasks. They then work out the effect of a broken laser cutter and a late delivery, re-plan to win the time back, and decide where a reliable supplier lead time should come from.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Planning a Project with a Gantt Chart
- Stimulus: lamp project task list (spreadsheet data)
- Rulers and two coloured pencils per pupil
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Ruler
- Computer/Laptop (optional)
Software / weblinks
Judging Success with Audience Data
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Numeracy in GCSE Digital Media and Film: pupils interpret audience and success data, as Unit 2 asks when evaluating products from a company based in Wales. Using invented practice data for a feature film and a streamed drama series, they read a bar chart and a line graph, calculate percentage falls, takings per screen, means and percentage increases, expose a press release chart with a truncated axis, explain what views and box office can and cannot show, and write a 150 to 200 word judgement for the company's board. Practice only, not NEA work.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Judging Success with Audience Data
- Stimulus: Ffilmiau Hafod audience and success data (box office chart, episode views, press release chart and board comments)
- Worked example and answer key: all calculations, the misleading chart, limits of the data and a model judgement
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
Software / weblinks
Planning a Film Release Schedule with Data
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Practises GCSE Digital Media and Film Unit 2: Distribution and exhibition strategies of digital media and film industries in Wales, Sections 2.1.2 and 2.1.3, planning a release schedule as an exhibition strategy. Practice only with an invented company, not NEA work. Pupils work out per-screen averages, week-on-week drops and streaming income for three earlier Welsh films, turn a survey of 400 young people into percentages by age group, test a board member's claim that young people no longer go to the cinema, then build a release schedule from festival to free television that follows the cinemas' rules and justify every stage with a figure and its intended impact.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Planning a Film Release Schedule with Data
- Stimulus: Y Ffordd Adref release dossier (calendar, rules, earlier films and audience survey)
- Stimulus: earlier Welsh films box office and rentals (CSV)
- Stimulus: Tarian Films audience survey (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: film statistics, survey percentages, model release schedule and data limits
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Calculator
- Computer/Laptop (optional)