GCSE The Sciences
The Sciences (Double Award) names digital tools in a few places: digital technology for rates of reaction, digital simulations of radioactive decay and pH probes, each offered as one option among non-digital methods. Its real digital load is data: collecting, graphing, analysing and evaluating primary and secondary data across six examinations and two externally marked practical enquiries, plus judging how the media reports science. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is confident spreadsheet use to record, graph, calculate and model from practical data.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2026
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Biology, Basis of Life: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 56 marks, 14.3%
- Unit 2: Chemistry, Chemical Substances and How They Behave: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 56 marks, 14.3%
- Unit 3: Physics, Forces, Motion and the Universe: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 56 marks, 14.3%
- Unit 4: Biology, Continuity of Life: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 64 marks, 15.7%
- Unit 5: Chemistry, Chemical Bonding, Reactions and Resources: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 64 marks, 15.7%
- Unit 6: Physics, Waves, Electricity and Energy: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 15 minutes, 64 marks, 15.7%
- Unit 7: Scientific Enquiry: Two enquiries from a choice of three, each a practical task (1 hour) and a written task (1 hour), 28 marks each (56 marks), externally marked by WJEC, 10%
Skills that use Collaboration
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Engaging online with scientists and places of scientific interest
The learning experiences include meeting scientists on screen or remotely and visiting sites digitally. The specification also notes that astronomers, including those in Wales, work on collaborative research (Unit 3, Section 3.5.2, page 37).
DCF: Communication, Collaboration
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils use Google Earth to visit a Welsh science site, such as Dinorwig power station, and record three observations in a shared PowerPoint.
- Year 8
- Pupils co-write questions in a shared Teams document for a video call with a STEM ambassador and summarise the answers afterwards.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a Welsh astronomy or medical research team online and present its work in a collaborative PowerPoint built and shared in Teams.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Section 2, Opportunities for integration of learning experiences, page 65
“engage with the work of diverse scientists or professionals working in related areas, either in person or on-screen and/or remotely”
Progression step 3
I can exchange online communications, making use of a growing range of available features, e.g. add attachments or hyperlinks, change formatting.
I can work with others to create an online collaborative project for a specific purpose, sharing and appropriately setting permissions for other group members, e.g. editing, commenting, viewing.
Progression step 4
I can select and use different online communication tools for specific purposes with higher levels of competence, e.g. set up and manage an address book, organise contacts, use advanced features of e-mail provider (signature, auto reply, read receipt, widgets).
I can independently select and use a range of online collaboration tools to create a project with others in one or more languages, e.g. making use of online technology to share and present ideas to others.
Progression step 5
I can make use of and reflect on available online communication services for specific purposes, justifying selections made based on their appropriateness for delivery of information.
I can reflect on choices of collaboration solutions, use them appropriately and comment on how this could be improved to meet aims of tasks.
Good to know
- Digital data logging for rates is optional: learners investigate rates of reaction 'including use of digital technology, where appropriate' (Unit 2, Section 2.3.2, page 25).
- Digital simulation is one of three options: 'model radioactive decay using dice, coins or with digital simulations' (Unit 6, Section 6.1.2, page 57).
- Digital probes are optional: learners 'use a pH probe or universal indicator to find the pH of a solution' (Unit 5, Section 5.2.1, page 49).
- The Unit 7 written tasks are supervised: 'Learners must work independently in high controlled conditions' (page 64). The specification does not say whether these tasks are handwritten or completed on screen; 'The Assessment Arrangement Pack for Unit 7 will include all detailed information relating to' the assessment (page 66).
- Digital visits and on-screen contact with scientists are learning experiences that 'will not be directly assessed' (page 65).
Links with other qualifications
Graph skills in Appendix D overlap with Mathematics, the scientific enquiry demands match GCSE Integrated Science, and the climate and weather data work overlaps with Geography.
Source: WJEC GCSE The Sciences (Double Award) specification, teaching from 2026, for award from 2028, © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2025.