Lab
See the idea. Put it to the test.
956 practicals from Kindergarten to Year 12, in 9 subjects. A practical gives the idea, what you need, the steps, what you should see and a safety card. A teacher-led practical 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 practical 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 practicals 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 practicals 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 practical lists the NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes it supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
Find a practical
12 practicals
Biology 11–12 · Biology · Plants and energy
Conditions needed for photosynthesis: starch tests on treated leaves
A leaf stores the product of photosynthesis as starch only in the cells that had chlorophyll, light and carbon dioxide together, so an iodine test maps exactly where photosynthesis happened.
PracticalMedium riskFloating leaf discs: photosynthesis measured by the time discs rise
Leaf discs whose air spaces have been replaced by solution sink, then float again as oxygen from photosynthesis refills the spaces, so the time to float measures the rate.
PracticalLow riskGas exchange of plants and animals in light and dark with hydrogencarbonate indicator
Living things change the carbon dioxide concentration around them: animals always add it, plants remove it in light and add it in the dark.
PracticalMedium riskOxygen uptake by germinating seeds in a simple respirometer
Aerobic respiration consumes oxygen; when the carbon dioxide produced is absorbed, the gas volume falls at a rate that measures respiration.
PracticalMedium riskPhotosynthesis in immobilised algae measured by carbon dioxide uptake
Photosynthesising cells remove dissolved carbon dioxide, raising the pH of the surrounding solution, and the colour of a pH indicator tracks the rate.
PracticalLow riskRate of photosynthesis in pondweed against light distance and carbon dioxide
Photosynthesis releases oxygen at a rate set by light and carbon dioxide supply, and light intensity falls with the square of the distance from a lamp.
Practical, model not builtLow riskStomatal density from nail-varnish leaf impressions
Gas exchange in a leaf happens through stomata whose number per square millimetre can be measured from a surface impression and compared between leaf surfaces and species.
Practical, model not builtLow riskThe light-dependent reaction: isolated chloroplasts reducing DCPIP (the Hill reaction)
Chloroplasts in light release electrons from water, and a blue dye that accepts those electrons loses its colour, showing the light-dependent stage of photosynthesis happening outside the living cell.
PracticalLow riskTracing water transport with dye in celery and white flowers, with stem sections
Water travels through xylem vessels, which stain along their length and can be located in a stem section, and adjacent vessels exchange water sideways.
PracticalLow riskWater balance in plants: water loss from cuttings with leaf surfaces sealed
Most water leaves a plant through stomata, so sealing the leaf surface that carries most stomata cuts water loss sharply, showing how stomata and cuticle together let a plant balance water uptake and loss.
PracticalLow riskWater uptake by a shoot in a bubble potometer under changing conditions
Water lost from leaves by transpiration is replaced through the xylem, so the rate at which a bubble travels along a capillary measures the pull generated by evaporation.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFlower dissection and hand pollination of rapid-cycling brassicas
A flower's parts are organised for pollen transfer and fertilisation, and moving pollen by hand between chosen parents is the basis of artificial pollination in plant breeding.
PracticalLow risk
For tutors and administrators
The materials and steps of every teacher-led practical are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.