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
13 practicals
Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 · Environment and sustainability · Weather and climate
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 practical are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.