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
16 practicals
Science and Technology K–6 · Chemistry
Bend, twist, stretch and fold: changing materials without changing what they are
Physical actions change a material's shape, and some changes spring back while others stay, but the material stays the same stuff.
PracticalLow riskMixing and separating: sand, rice and paper clips
Materials can be mixed without changing what they are, and a mixture can be taken apart again using differences such as size and magnetism.
PracticalLow riskBreaking into smaller pieces: crushed chalk is still chalk
Snapping and crushing chalk makes smaller and smaller pieces without making a new material: the powder marks paper the same way, the pieces still add up to the same length, and the sealed bag weighs the same at every step.
PracticalLow riskChocolate, butter, wax and ice: different solids melt at different temperatures
Each solid changes to a liquid at its own temperature, so a warm-water bath with a thermometer lets a learner read off the melting temperature of several everyday materials.
PracticalLow riskCooling curve: how fast a cup of warm water loses heat
A warm object loses heat to cooler surroundings, quickly at first and more slowly as the temperatures get closer, and a lid or insulation slows the loss.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFreezing water: it takes up more room as ice
Removing heat turns liquid water into solid ice, and unlike most substances water expands when it freezes, which can be measured as a rise of about 9 percent in volume.
PracticalLow riskMelting ice: the thermometer stops at zero
Adding heat to ice makes it melt, but while ice and water are together the temperature stays at 0 degrees Celsius because the energy is being used to change state, not to warm the water.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSolid or liquid? Testing properties, then meeting cornflour slime
Solids keep their shape and liquids take the shape of their container and can be poured, and testing those properties on a cornflour and water mixture shows why scientists test rather than assume.
PracticalLow riskBalloon on a bottle: air expands when it is warmed
Warming a gas makes its particles move faster and spread out, so air in a bottle expands and inflates a balloon, and cooling reverses it, without any air being added.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFood dye in hot and cold water: particles move faster when warm
Particles in a liquid are always moving and move faster when warmer, so a drop of dye spreads through warm water sooner than through cold, though the fast swirling seen in a glass is mostly currents and true particle spreading is slow.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSquash the syringe: gases compress, liquids do not
Gas particles are far apart with empty space between them, so a sealed syringe of air can be pushed to half its volume, while water particles are already touching and the plunger will not move.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDissolving and getting it back: separating sand and salt
Dissolving is a reversible change: salt dissolved in water passes through a filter that stops sand and is recovered unchanged when the water evaporates, with its mass back on the balance.
PracticalLow riskFizz in a sealed bottle: a new substance, and no mass lost
Bicarbonate of soda and vinegar react to make new substances, including carbon dioxide gas, an irreversible change; in a sealed bottle the total mass stays the same, and it falls only when the gas is let out.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskHeat and food: which changes can be undone?
Heating melts chocolate and butter, changes that reverse on cooling, but sets egg white and browns bread, changes that make new substances and cannot be undone.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalMedium riskLemon cells: chemical energy into electrical energy
Two different metals in an acidic fruit make a cell that transforms chemical energy into electrical energy; one cell gives less than 1 V and a tiny current, so cells are joined in series to light an LED.
PracticalLow riskRusting steel wool: what it needs and how much air it uses
Rusting is an irreversible change in which iron combines with oxygen and water to form a new substance, so steel wool rusts only when both are present, rusts faster with salt, and uses up the oxygen in the air around it.
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.