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
74 activities
Technologies K–10 · page 1 of 2
A real-object graph: how we travelled to school today
Data can be shown with objects: one cube for each child, stacked in the column for their answer, makes the most common answer the tallest column.
PracticalLow riskDigital system or not: sorting classroom objects
A digital system takes an input, follows instructions stored inside it and gives an output, so a tablet or a calculator is a digital system while a pencil, a wind-up timer or a torch with a plain on-off switch is not.
PracticalLow riskFoil boats: designing a boat that carries the most coins
The same square of foil carries far more coins when it is shaped into a boat with walls, because the boat can push aside more water before it floods.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMy data or not: sorting information cards
Some information belongs to a child, such as their name, photo, birthday and home address, and is only shared online with a trusted adult's agreement, while other information, such as today's weather, is not about them.
PracticalLow riskA yes/no sorting machine: branching with attribute shapes
A branch is a question with two answers that sends each item down a different path, so two yes/no questions in a row sort 12 shapes into 4 groups.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFrom cream to butter: a dairy food made by shaking
Cream from cows' milk turns into butter when hard shaking makes its fat droplets join together and separate from the liquid buttermilk.
PracticalMedium riskInside a digital kitchen scale: input, processing and output
A digital kitchen scale is a digital system: a sensor feels the load (input), a chip turns it into a number (processing) and the display shows grams (output).
PracticalLow riskMoving pictures: a split-pin lever card
A lever turns about a pivot, so a point twice as far from the pivot moves twice as far, in the opposite direction, when the lever turns.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPictures from numbers: shading a pixel grid from a code
A picture can be stored as rows of 0s and 1s, where each digit says whether one square (a pixel) is left white or shaded.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPreparing a fruit platter: serves and safe food steps
A standard serve of fruit is about 150 g, so weighing prepared fruit shows how many serves a platter holds and how to share it fairly.
PracticalMedium riskRepeat loops in a bead bracelet
A repeat instruction (iteration) makes a short list of steps produce a long pattern, so 'repeat 5 times: red, red, blue' threads 15 beads.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA Scratch maze game: keyboard input and wall checks
A visual program uses input (arrow keys), branching (if touching the wall colour) and repetition to control a sprite, and a test table shows whether every rule works.
PracticalLow riskBalancing a ruler lever with washers
A lever balances when the number of equal loads times their distance from the pivot is the same on both sides, so a small load far from the pivot balances a big load close to it.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFolded paper beams: flat, channel and tube
Folding or rolling the same sheet of paper moves the paper away from its middle line, which makes a beam that bends far less and carries far more load than the flat sheet.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFrom wheat grain to flour: milling by hand
Milling breaks wheat grains into flour, and sieving separates the brown bran from the white endosperm flour, while the total mass stays the same apart from dust that escapes.
PracticalLow riskHigher or lower: finding a number from 1 to 100 in 7 guesses
Comparing each guess with the secret number (higher or lower) and always guessing the middle of what is left halves the search each time, so any number from 1 to 100 is found in at most 7 guesses.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow long would guessing take: combination locks and passwords
Each extra dial or character multiplies the number of possible combinations, which is why a password should be easy for its owner to remember but take far too long for anyone else to guess.
Practical, model not builtLow riskInput, output or both: testing computer peripherals
A peripheral is an input device if data goes from it into the computer, an output device if data comes out of the computer to it, and both if data goes both ways.
PracticalLow riskKeeping cut apple fresh for a lunchbox
Cut apple turns brown when an enzyme in the fruit meets oxygen in the air, and preparation methods that cover the surface or make it acidic slow the browning.
PracticalLow riskOne temperature log, three representations
The same data can be represented as a table, a line graph or a colour scale, and each representation suits a different purpose.
PracticalLow riskSending numbers between two micro:bits by radio
Two digital systems can transmit data to each other by radio, and a shared group number keeps each pair's messages apart from the rest of the class.
PracticalLow riskWhich fabric makes the best sun hat: testing with UV-sensitive beads
Fabrics differ in how much ultraviolet (UV) radiation they let through, and UV-sensitive beads that change colour in sunlight show which fabric protects skin best.
PracticalLow riskA micro:bit light meter calibrated against a lux meter
A sensor turns light into a number on its own scale (0 to 255 on a micro:bit), and a calibration table made against a lux meter turns those numbers into a judgement such as 'too dark to read'.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA steady-hand game: a circuit that turns a touch into sound
Touching a wire loop to a bare wire course closes a circuit and the buzzer sounds, so a switch can be any two conductors that meet.
PracticalLow riskAiming a solar panel: output and the angle of the light
A solar panel turns light energy into electrical energy, which a fan motor turns into motion, and the panel gives less current when the light strikes it at a slant, because a tilted panel catches less of the beam: at 60° from face-on it catches half as much.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBinary cards: counting with on and off
Five cards showing 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 dots, each either face up (1) or face down (0), make every whole number from 0 to 31 in exactly one way, which is how digital systems store numbers as off and on states.
Practical, model not builtLow riskConductor or insulator: choosing materials for a switch
Metals let electric current pass and most non-metals do not, so a designer picks a metal for the parts of a switch that must carry current and an insulator for the parts people touch.
PracticalLow riskDesigning a water filter from gravel, sand and charcoal
Layers of gravel, sand and charcoal remove particles from muddy water, making it clearer, and the layer order and grain size trade clarity against flow speed, but clear water is not necessarily safe water.
PracticalMedium riskDice passphrases: why four random words beat one clever password
A passphrase of words chosen by rolling dice is easy to remember yet has so many possible combinations that guessing it takes far longer than guessing a short password, and reusing it anywhere undoes that protection.
Practical, model not builtLow riskGear trains: counting turns to change speed and direction
When two gears mesh, the same number of teeth pass each other, so a small gear turning a gear with 5 times as many teeth turns it 5 times more slowly, in the opposite direction, and with more turning force.
Practical, model not builtLow riskInside a desktop computer: naming the main components
A computer's main internal components each have one job: the processor (CPU) follows instructions, memory (RAM) holds what is being worked on, storage keeps files when the power is off, and the power supply feeds them all.
PracticalMedium riskLighting an LED safely: cells, resistor and switch
A circuit transfers energy from the cells to the LED, which transforms it into light, and a resistor in the loop limits the current: the larger the resistance, the smaller the current and the dimmer the LED, which also keeps the LED under its current limit.
Practical, model not builtLow riskmicro:bit rock, paper, scissors: random numbers, variables and branching
A visual program stores a random number in a variable and branches on it to show rock, paper or scissors, and counting 60 results tests whether each branch comes up about a third of the time.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSending a message in packets across the classroom
Networks send data in small numbered packets that may travel by different paths and arrive out of order, and the numbers let the receiver rebuild the message and spot a lost packet.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSorting with a balance scale: counting comparisons
Different sorting algorithms put the same 8 containers in order but need different numbers of comparisons, so an algorithm can be judged by how many steps it takes.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSowing depth: when do wheat seedlings emerge
In a managed crop, sowing depth is a decision: a seed sown deeper must grow further on its stored food before reaching light, so it emerges later, which is why farmers set air seeders to a chosen depth.
PracticalMedium riskText as numbers: writing secret messages in ASCII
Digital systems store every character as a number, so the word HELLO is stored as 72 69 76 76 79 and each of those numbers as 8 binary digits.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTriangles or squares: bracing a straw tower
A square frame with pinned corners folds into a parallelogram under a sideways push, while a triangle cannot change shape without a side changing length, so a diagonal brace makes a frame rigid.
PracticalLow riskWhat a photo file records: metadata and the digital footprint
A digital photo file stores hidden data (metadata) such as the date, the device and, when location is on, the exact place it was taken, which becomes part of a person's digital footprint when the photo is shared.
PracticalLow riskWhich wrap keeps a drink warm: testing insulation
Warm water cools towards room temperature fastest at first and then more slowly, and insulating materials that trap air slow the cooling, which a simple cooling model with one number per material describes.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskWhy bread dough rises: yeast and temperature
Yeast ferments sugar in dough and gives off carbon dioxide that makes the dough rise, and it works faster in warm conditions, which is why bakers prove dough somewhere warm.
PracticalMedium riskEight bits: counting to 255 and overflow
Digital systems store integers in a fixed number of binary digits, so an 8-bit value runs from 0 to 255 and a sum that needs a ninth bit wraps around.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHardware specifications: timing a file copy over USB 2.0 and USB 3
A hardware specification sets a ceiling on performance: a 1 GB copy cannot be faster than its size divided by the port's data rate, and the slowest part of the system sets the real time.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow fast is the network: ping times and the speed of light in fibre
Data crosses long distances as light in optical fibre, which travels about 204 km every millisecond, so the distance to a server sets a minimum round-trip time that no network can beat.
Practical, model not builtLow riskLogging light levels with a micro:bit and validating the data
Sensor data must be checked against what the sensor can report and the planned sampling times before it is queried and graphed for trends.
PracticalLow riskPaper columns: how length changes the buckling load
A slender column that fails by bowing sideways (buckling) holds a load that falls with the square of its length, so doubling the length of a buckling tube quarters its load, while a short, stocky tube crushes instead at a load set by the strength of the paper.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPixels, colour depth and image file size
An uncompressed image stores an integer for every pixel, so its size is width × height × bits per pixel, plus a small header.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPulley systems: measuring mechanical advantage and efficiency
A pulley system with n rope strands holding the load needs, ideally, 1/n of the load's weight as effort but n times the rope length, and friction makes the real effort larger.
Practical, model not builtLow 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.