PS S4.4 Don't Look STUDENT WORKBOOK

Don’t Look – Student Workbook

The Don’t Look Student Workbook is a thoughtfully designed learning companion that guides Stage 4 Visual Arts students through an engaging exploration of optical illusions, tessellations, and visual perception. Blending creative tasks, structured theory, and hands-on activities, this workbook supports students in understanding how pattern, symmetry, colour, and mathematics work together to create visual impact.

Throughout the workbook, students study the work of contemporary Japanese artist Akiyoshi Kitaoka, analysing how his Op Art illusions use mathematical precision, repetition, and movement to influence audience perception. Inspired by these ideas, students develop their own illusion artworks, experimenting with geometry, colour theory, and pattern creation.

What’s Inside:

Art making Activities:
Step-by-step tasks that guide students through drawing exercises, pattern construction, tessellation design, and illusion-building techniques. Scaffolded templates and models support students at various ability levels.

Artist Case Study:
A structured study of Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s practice, including comprehension questions, analysis scaffolds, and guided notes that help students understand how visual elements create perceptual effects.

Super Six & TEEL Supports:
Built-in literacy scaffolds such as Super Six comprehension strategies and TEEL paragraph frameworks to help students confidently write about their own artworks and the work of others.

Critical and Historical Studies:
Activities that guide students through the Structural viewpoint and the artworld concepts of Artist, Artwork, World, and Audience, exploring how mathematics and design principles influence perception.

Checkpoints & Self-Assessment:
Success criteria, checkpoints, and reflection sections help students track their progress and take ownership of their learning.