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.
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956 activities
Every subject and year · page 19 of 20
Binary 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 riskPython functions tested against known values
A function packages a calculation so it can be tested against known values, and testing floating-point results needs a tolerance because decimals are stored in binary.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRubber-band racers: stored energy, wheel size and distance
A wound rubber band stores elastic energy that the axle turns into motion, and each axle turn moves the racer one wheel circumference, so wheel size, winding and friction decide how far it goes.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskSampling sound: sample rate, bit depth and file size
Sound is stored as a stream of integer samples, so a file's size is samples per second × bits per sample × channels × seconds, and the highest pitch it can hold is half the sample rate.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSoldering an LED indicator on stripboard
A soldered joint makes a permanent electrical connection, and choosing the resistor from the LED's datasheet keeps the current safe: I = (9.0 V − 1.9 V) ÷ 680 Ω = 10.4 mA.
PracticalMedium riskSorting plastics for recycling by floating and sinking
Common plastics have different densities, so liquids of known density sort them into groups, the same float–sink idea used to separate mixed plastics for recycling.
PracticalLow riskSyringe hydraulics: trading distance for force
A liquid in a closed system passes pressure on, so a small piston driving a large one multiplies force by the ratio of their areas while the large piston moves less by the same ratio.
Practical, model not builtLow riskThe Caesar cipher: encrypting, then breaking it by trying every key
Encryption turns data into a form only the key-holder can read, and a cipher with only 25 useful keys is broken by trying them all, which is why network encryption uses keys with an astronomically large number of possibilities.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTracing nested loops by hand before running them
A trace table follows every variable through each pass of a loop, so the output of nested loops can be predicted, and errors such as an off-by-one range found, before the program runs.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWhat an app collects: auditing permissions and the digital footprint
Every app asks for permissions and declares the data it collects, and comparing each item with what the app needs to work shows which data is essential and which only adds to the user's digital footprint.
PracticalLow riskWhy a second factor helps: guessing a six-digit code
Multi-factor authentication asks for something you have as well as something you know, so a leaked password alone does not open the account: an attacker also needs a six-digit code that changes every 30 seconds.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWind turbine blades: measuring electrical power and the Betz limit
Wind carries power that rises with the cube of wind speed, and no turbine can capture more than 16/27 of it, so blade design is judged by how much of that power reaches the generator.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA thermistor thermostat with hysteresis
A thermistor's resistance falls as it warms, a voltage divider turns that into a voltage a microcontroller can read, and switching on and off at two different temperatures (hysteresis) stops a fan chattering.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA threat model for a school login: online and offline guessing
A threat model lists what an attacker could do and how long it would take, and the numbers show that guessing through the login page is slowed by lockouts while guessing against a stolen hash file is limited only by the password's size.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA Warren truss: predicting tension and compression by the method of joints
Each joint of a pin-jointed truss is in equilibrium, so resolving forces at the joints gives every member's tension or compression, and the compression members are the ones most likely to buckle.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskAn ultrasonic distance sensor and the speed of sound
An ultrasonic sensor times an echo, and distance = speed of sound × time ÷ 2, so the sensor's accuracy depends on using the speed of sound for the air temperature.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBubble sort against merge sort: counting comparisons as lists grow
Bubble sort compares every pair of neighbours on every pass and needs about n²/2 comparisons, while merge sort needs about n log2 n, so the gap between them grows quickly with list size.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHuffman coding by hand: shorter codes for common letters
Giving frequent symbols short codes and rare symbols long ones, with no code the start of another, stores text in fewer bits than a fixed 8 bits per character.
Practical, model not builtLow riskLinear and binary search: counting comparisons on a million items
Linear search checks items one by one, while binary search halves a sorted list each step, so for a million items the worst case falls from a million comparisons to 20.
Practical, model not builtLow riskLogic gates from switches: AND, OR, NOT and the two-way light
Switches in series behave as AND, switches in parallel as OR, a push-to-break switch as NOT, and two two-way switches as the staircase light, so logical operators in algorithms have physical circuits behind them.
Practical, model not builtLow riskOne stylesheet, three pages: separating content, structure and presentation
A web page holds its text as content, marks its structure with HTML elements and sets its look in a separate CSS stylesheet, so one stylesheet change restyles every page and the structure still serves screen readers when styles are off.
PracticalLow riskQuerying a relational database of the first 20 elements
Data about entities and their relationships sits in linked tables, and SQL queries and joins answer questions that a single flat list handles badly.
Practical, model not builtLow riskReaction times from a falling ruler: validating and analysing a class data set
A falling-ruler test turns a catch distance into a reaction time, and a class data set needs validation rules and an outlier check before its trends are trusted.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRun-length encoding: when compression makes a file smaller and when it does not
Run-length encoding replaces each run of identical pixels with its length, which shrinks images with long runs and can enlarge busy ones, so the benefit of a compression technique depends on the data.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTesting a leap-year function with boundary cases
A program is validated by comparing its output with expected results for a planned set of test cases, and boundary cases catch errors that everyday cases miss.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTimber beam deflection: flat against on edge
A beam's sag under a centre load is F L³ ÷ (48 E I), and turning a rectangular section on edge increases I by the square of the depth ratio, so the same timber sags almost 5 times less on edge.
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.