Concept Studio
See the idea. Put it to the test.
956 activities from Kindergarten to Year 12, in 13 subject areas. A practical gives the idea, what you need, the steps, what you should see and a safety card. A teacher-led demonstration gives the idea and its hazards; its method is for tutors on the learning platform.
Review
Reviewed before publication (owner’s confirmation, 24 September 2026). That covers every activity here, and a practical’s page lists the sources its author read.
A safety card on every page
The risk, who supervises and the hazards. The 38 teacher-led demonstrations show their idea and hazards here; their materials, steps and sources, and any result, control or note that states a number or an amount, are for tutors and administrators on the learning platform.
School laboratory, not for home
207 activities are medium or high risk. Each says so on its page: In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.
Curriculum references
Each activity lists the NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes it supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
Find an activity
50 activities
Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 · page 1 of 2
Albedo: how surface colour changes the energy absorbed and the temperature reached
A surface reflects a fraction of the sunlight it receives (its albedo) and absorbs the rest, so ice, forest, ocean and city roofs warm at different rates under the same Sun.
PracticalLow riskAngle of sunlight and energy received: the cosine law with a lamp and a light meter
The energy a surface receives per square metre falls with the cosine of the angle from the perpendicular, which is why latitude, season and axial tilt control climate.
Practical, model not builtLow riskChemical weathering of limestone: reaction of calcium carbonate with dilute acid
Carbonate rock dissolves in acid at a rate set by surface area, concentration and temperature, the same chemistry that forms caves and soil from limestone.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskClassifying rocks as igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic with a dichotomous key
Texture (crystal or grain size, layering, foliation) and mineral content record how a rock formed, which is what a rock classification key reads.
PracticalLow riskConvection currents in a beaker (syllabus practical)
Heated fluid expands, becomes less dense and rises while cooler fluid sinks, the circulation that carries heat through the mantle, oceans and atmosphere.
PracticalMedium riskCrystal size and cooling rate with salol on warm and cold slides
Slow cooling grows large crystals and fast cooling grows small ones, which is why intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks of the same composition look different.
PracticalLow riskDensity of crust, mantle and core materials and what it tells us about the interior
Surface rocks are far less dense than the whole Earth, so the interior must hold much denser material, which the layered model reproduces.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDensity-driven ocean currents: cold, salty water sinking under warm, fresh water
Temperature and salinity set seawater density, and density differences drive the deep circulation that moves heat between the poles and the tropics.
PracticalLow riskEffect of salinity on seed germination and seedling growth
Dissolved salt lowers the water potential of soil water, so germination and growth fall as salinity rises, the mechanism behind lost production on salinised land.
PracticalLow riskIdentifying minerals by hardness, streak, lustre, cleavage, acid test and specific gravity
A mineral is identified from a fixed set of physical properties that follow from its composition and crystal structure, applied through a dichotomous key.
PracticalLow riskModelling divergent, convergent and transform boundaries and the features they build
Each boundary type produces a characteristic set of features, rift and ridge, trench and fold mountains, offset faults, which simple sand and card models reproduce under the same motions.
PracticalLow riskModelling radioactive decay with dice and calculating a radiometric age
Decay is random for each atom yet exactly predictable for a large number, so the parent-to-daughter ratio in a mineral is a clock.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPanning for gold: separating a dense mineral from sand by density
Alluvial gold is recovered because it is far denser than quartz sand (gold up to about twenty times the density of water, quartz sand 2.7, Earthlearningidea), so washing sorts the grains, the principle behind panning, jigs and sluices.
PracticalLow riskPorosity and permeability of sand, gravel and clay columns, with Darcy’s law
Pore space stores groundwater and connected pores let it flow, so the same measured columns show why an aquifer holds water and a clay layer confines it.
Practical, model not builtLow riskProperties of water that shape the Earth: heat capacity, density of ice, surface tension and solvent action
Water’s high heat capacity, expansion on freezing, surface tension and solvent power each follow from hydrogen bonding and each governs a large-scale Earth process.
PracticalMedium riskSea-floor spreading and magnetic stripes: a magnetised-pin model and the spreading-rate calculator
New crust forms at a ridge and records the magnetic field of its day, so on each side of the ridge a stripe’s width equals the half spreading rate multiplied by the length of that polarity interval.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSoil components by the jar settling test, the ribbon test and Stokes’ law
A soil is a mixture of sand, silt, clay and organic matter whose grain sizes settle at rates set by Stokes’ law, so a shaken jar sorts the soil for you.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSoil erosion prevention: bare, mulched and planted trays under a measured rainfall (syllabus practical)
Cover protects soil from raindrop impact and slows runoff, so the same rain on a covered tray moves far less sediment than on bare ground.
PracticalLow riskSoil pH and organic content by loss on ignition
Soil forms from rock, air, water and living things together; its pH and organic fraction are measurable records of the biotic and chemical part of that formation.
PracticalMedium riskStick-slip on a brick: elastic energy storage and sudden release as an earthquake model
Rock across a locked fault stores elastic potential energy until friction fails, and the sudden slip releases that energy as seismic waves.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSurveying an introduced species with quadrats and a transect (fieldwork)
The abundance and spread of a weed such as lantana can be measured, not guessed, by sampling along a line with quadrats and recording cover and frequency.
PracticalMedium riskThe continental jigsaw: fitting the continents at the edge of the shelf
The continents fit at the continental shelf edge rather than the coastline, and matching rocks and fossils across the join are evidence that they were once one.
PracticalLow riskThe S-wave shadow zone: modelling why the outer core must be liquid
S waves cannot pass through liquid, so stations more than about 103 degrees from an earthquake record no direct S waves, which fixes the size and state of the outer core.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTreating turbid water: coagulation, settling and sand filtration measured by turbidity
Fine suspended particles that will not settle are clumped by a coagulant into flocs that do, and a sand bed traps what is left, the two steps at the heart of a water filtration plant.
PracticalLow riskWater quality of a local creek or pond: pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature (fieldwork)
A handful of measurable properties show how land use upstream changes a waterway, and comparing them with published guideline values turns observation into evidence.
PracticalMedium riskWhat drives the plates: a pupil model of slab pull, ridge push and mantle drag
A cold, dense slab sinking at a subduction zone pulls the rest of the plate after it, and plate speeds show that this pull matters more than ridge push or mantle drag.
PracticalLow riskWhere the Earth’s water is: a 1000 mL model of oceans, ice, groundwater and rivers
Only a fraction of a per cent of all water is fresh, liquid and at the surface, which is the quantity that people, plants and animals draw on.
PracticalLow riskA scale model of geological time from the International Chronostratigraphic Chart
Almost all of Earth history passed before complex life; a scaled timeline built from the chart’s numerical ages makes the proportions of the eons and the brevity of human time visible.
PracticalLow riskBuilding and testing a simple seismometer
A mass that lags behind a shaking frame records the ground motion, the principle of every seismometer from a pendulum and pen to a digital sensor.
PracticalLow riskComposition of household or school waste: a sorted and weighed audit (syllabus practical)
What goes in the bin is measurable, and the mass fractions of food, paper, plastic, glass and metal decide which management options save the most resources.
PracticalMedium riskFinding microplastics in soil or sediment by density separation
Plastic fragments less dense than saturated salt water float free of sand and mud, so a density separation reveals pollution the eye cannot see and a blank shows how much contamination the method itself adds.
PracticalLow riskFloating ice against land ice: which raises sea level when it melts
Floating ice already displaces its own mass of water, so in fresh water its melting does not change the level, whereas ice resting on land adds new water to the ocean.
PracticalLow riskLiquefaction: saturated sand losing strength when shaken
Shaking raises the water pressure between sand grains until they no longer touch, so saturated ground behaves as a liquid and buildings sink or tilt.
PracticalLow riskLocating an earthquake from S minus P times at three stations
P waves outrun S waves, so the gap between their arrivals at a station gives its distance to the earthquake, and three distances fix the epicentre.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMagma viscosity: flow rate of model lavas and what it means for eruption style
Silica-rich magma is far more viscous than basaltic magma, traps gas and erupts explosively, while runny basalt degasses and flows.
PracticalLow riskMaking mould, cast and trace fossils in clay and plaster
A fossil is usually not the organism but the shape it left, a mould, the filling of that shape, a cast, or the mark of its activity, a trace.
PracticalLow riskMapping a sinking plate: earthquake focus depths across the Java Trench and a mid-ocean ridge
At a convergent boundary earthquake foci deepen with distance from the trench along the sinking slab, while at a divergent boundary they stay shallow, so a depth cross-section maps the boundary’s shape and the depth of its hazard.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMilankovitch cycles by hand: modelling eccentricity, tilt and precession
Slow changes in the Earth’s orbit and axis redistribute sunlight between seasons and hemispheres over tens of thousands of years, pacing the ice ages.
PracticalLow riskOcean acidification: carbon dioxide lowering the pH of water and attacking carbonate shells
Carbon dioxide dissolving in water forms carbonic acid, which lowers pH and dissolves calcium carbonate, the chemistry that threatens shell-building marine life.
Practical, model not builtLow riskOutput of a solar cell against light intensity and angle
A photovoltaic cell’s short-circuit current follows the light it intercepts, so tilt, shading and time of day set the yield of a renewable energy resource.
PracticalLow riskOverharvesting a renewable resource: a fishing model and maximum sustainable yield
A renewable population replaces itself fastest at half its carrying capacity, so a harvest above that maximum sustainable yield drives it to collapse, however large the stock looks at the start.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRunoff from a model catchment: how land cover changes the flood peak
Paving and clearing raise the fraction of rain that runs off at once, so the same storm produces a higher, earlier flood peak from a built-up catchment.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSediment layers in a jar: superposition, grading and reading a sequence
Sediment settles with the oldest layer at the base, coarsest grains first in each pulse, which is the rule that lets a rock sequence be read in order.
PracticalLow riskSlope stability: angle of repose of dry, damp and saturated sediment
Loose material stands only up to its angle of repose, and a little water raises that angle while more water can lower it again, which is part of why heavy rain triggers landslides.
PracticalLow riskStrike, dip and the order of events at an outcrop or road cutting (fieldwork)
Beds are laid down close to horizontal, so a steep measured dip records tilting or folding that came after deposition; with superposition, cross-cutting relationships and unconformities, strike and dip readings put the events at an outcrop in order.
PracticalMedium riskThe greenhouse effect in a bottle, and why the bottle model needs care
Carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation and warms the air, but a bottle mostly measures trapped convection, so the practical teaches both the effect and the limits of a physical model.
PracticalLow riskThermal expansion of water: measuring the rise in a flask and scaling to sea level
Warmer water occupies more volume, so a warming ocean rises even before any ice melts, and the effect is measurable in a flask with a narrow tube.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTree rings as climate records: counting, measuring and cross-dating
A tree adds one ring a year whose width follows the growing conditions, so ring sequences from overlapping trees give a dated record of past climate.
PracticalLow risk
For tutors and administrators
The materials and steps of every teacher-led demonstration are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.