Teacher Guide

Section 2: Planning the course
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Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge O Level Computer Science
2.4 Short-term planning (creating lesson plans)
A short-term plan is an outline of what you intend to do in a particular lesson, or perhaps a small group of 
lessons. You may decide to plan lessons on a weekly basis. In practice, it is unlikely that you will have the 
time to plan all lessons in great detail. It is, nevertheless, worth planning key lessons in depth. Such lessons 
may include those which start a new topic, those which introduce a new skill and any areas in which you are 
going to be observed.
Key factors to consider when planning lessons:
• what you want the learners to be able to do by the end of the lesson – what learning you want to have 
taken place and what skills you want learners to have developed (AO2 and AO3)
• the 
benefi ts of recapping the learning achieved in the previous lesson and outlining the learning 
objectives
• how you are intending to help learners to achieve these goals
• how you will start and end the lesson
• what activities are to be used. Variety can create interest, keep learners alert, draw on and develop a 
range of skills
• how you will ensure that all learners, no matter what their ability, will be suitably stretched and occupied 
throughout the lesson
• what resources you will need (e.g. worksheets, computing resources, video clips, etc.)
• the approximate timings you expect each stage of the lesson to take
• how to assess what learning has taken place
• the 
benefi ts of recapping the key points at the end of the lesson.
You can fi nd sample lesson plans in appendices D and E of this guide. Most of the categories in the 
template provided are self-explanatory but you may want to clarify the difference between the following 
items:
Teaching aims
Teaching aims are the general aims you set for yourself to achieve during the lesson.