🕯️ Phase 1 - Anticipation 🗳️ Poll ⏱ 5 minutes

Activity 1 - Why Do People Make Art?

Look at the screen. Do not write anything yet. Just look.

🎨 Beauty 🔮 Mystery 🤫 Silence & Focus

Step 1 - Look, in silence

What you have just imagined covers about seventeen thousand years. People were painting on cave walls at Lascaux before writing, before farming, before cities.

Then a man called Vincent van Gogh painted a night sky with paint so thick you can see every stroke he made. And this morning, somewhere, somebody painted a wall.

Different times. Different tools. The same thing happening.

Step 2 - Sixty seconds, one picture

🌙

Now you are going to look at one picture for sixty seconds. That is all. There is no question at the end.

Step 3 - What is art?

Class poll · anonymous · choose up to 2

Here is the question for today: why do people make art?

Nobody has one answer. Not museums. Not teachers. Not artists themselves. So we start with yours.

AArt is a way of showing a feeling.

BArt is a way of making something beautiful.

CArt is a way of telling a story.

DArt is a way of saying something about the world.

EArt is a way of remembering.

FArt is a way of making people stop and look.

0 of 2 chosen

Add one word of your own (optional)

Live class results

This is diagnostic only - there is no right answer at this stage. Hold onto what you picked; you'll see it again at the end of the lesson.

Step 4 - Your first answer

Private · saved to your portfolio · 20-150 characters

What do you think art is for?

There is no right answer. This is never marked or shown to the class.

🔒 Autosaves every few seconds as you type. Compared with your own answer again at the end of the lesson.

Thank you. Hold onto that thought - now let's find the words for what art actually does.

"Nobody has one answer. Not museums. Not teachers. Not artists themselves. So we start with yours - and now, the words to describe what you're looking at."

← Lesson Overview Continue to Encounter →

What happens in Activity 1

A 5-minute Phase 1 - Anticipation activity. Three text blocks are revealed sequentially in place of the spec's 45-second silent film (a static, calm text reveal - no video assets exist in this codebase for any lesson). Then sixty seconds of silence with one artwork on screen and a shrinking countdown ring, a 6-option poll (choose up to 2, plus one optional word), and a private journal entry (20-150 chars). The Continue button unlocks only after the journal is submitted and all three self-ratings are given.

🎯 Learning objectives

Notice that art is far older than expected. Look at one artwork in silence, with no task and no writing. Put your own idea of what art is into words before the lesson changes it. Nothing here is marked.

📋 Activity sequence

Look, in silence - three text blocks appear with pauses, all remain visible once shown
Sixty seconds - one artwork, shrinking ring countdown, skippable
Poll - up to 2 of 6 fixed statements, plus one optional free word (20 chars), then a live anonymous class bar chart
Journal - "What do you think art is for?" 20-150 chars, private, never marked
Self-ratings - the same three statements you'll be asked again at the end of the lesson

♿ SEN Adaptations