One Small Idea, Two Versions

What you will make

Two versions of one small creative piece: a scene, microstory, sign, or short dialogue. One deliberate revision will show what you chose to keep, change, or reject and why. You may speak the versions, write them, or work with a partner. Saving and sharing are optional.

Before you start

Required: access to a chatbot for the live AI activity. Operate it yourself, direct a partner, or guide a facilitator-operated exchange. No learner account or recording is required. A text chatbot is enough; image generation and drawing are optional extensions.

Choose a playful, low-risk idea you want to explore. You do not need to be a writer or make a polished piece. For self-study, inspect one Gallery example if useful, then choose your own idea or an unworked variation. In a facilitated session, an opening demonstration leads to individual, pair, or group practice. Watching alone is preparation. If live AI is unavailable, prepare the idea and return for the live step.

Lab materials

Use during the lab

• Documents
  • Planning card Optional · Markdown / printable · An optional place to name your idea, boundaries, two versions, and choices.
• • Lab Notebook Interactive · The matching six-step activity with optional notes and local export.

Go deeper

• • Gallery Two constructed creative walkthroughs with drafts, revisions, and visible human choices.
• • Facilitator guide

Activity

Follow the complete activity here or open the optional Lab Notebook. Speak, write, or work with a partner; note fields may stay blank.

1. Choose one playful idea

   Choose a small question or possibility: What would two mountains disagree about? What sign might an imaginary icehouse keeper put on the door? What would a lost umbrella want to say? Pick a scene, microstory, sign, or short dialogue that you can hold in mind.

   For self-study, you may inspect a Gallery example, then choose your own idea or an unworked variation. For Zoom or in-person groups, use a demonstration to begin, then make decisions in your own individual, pair, or group practice. Watching alone is preparation; completion requires choosing live AI help and making your own revision.

   If a separate record helps, open the Optional planning card. You may work aloud without saving anything.

2. Name your intent and boundaries

   Say who the piece is for and what you want it to do: make someone smile, raise a question, create a strange image in words, or invite a conversation. Choose one feature you want to preserve, such as a quiet tone, a particular character, or an unanswered question.

   Name a boundary that fits the idea. For example: “This is an imagined scene, not a historical reconstruction,” or “Keep the mountain measurements distinct even though the mountains talk.” Use public, invented, or learner-owned material. Safety: Share Less, Notice More can help you decide what to leave out before using the tool. The Optional planning card can hold these choices.

3. Give the chatbot one small job

   Required: access to a chatbot for the live AI activity. Operate it, direct a partner, or choose the request in a facilitator-operated exchange. No learner account or recording is required.

   Ask for a few options or one small draft. For example: “Help me make a short [format] about [idea] for [audience]. I want it to [intent]. Keep [feature] and respect [boundary]. Offer two possible openings, then wait for my choice.” Or ask for one short draft if that suits your idea better.

   Inspect the actual response. You may reject every option, narrow the request, or use one small part. If the tool cannot help, name what failed and request a simpler text possibility. Before sending personal details or someone else’s work, return to Safety.

4. Choose and inspect a first version

   Choose a draft, combine selected parts, or make your own first version in response to the suggestions. Name what came from the chatbot and what you decided. Keep the first version available in memory, aloud with a partner, or in optional notes so you can compare it later.

   Does it do what you intended? Does it cross a boundary or include a factual claim you did not ask for? An imagined voice can be playful without becoming evidence about the world. If your piece depends on a real claim, check it against a suitable source; Reality Check offers a checking path. Remove or mark unresolved claims rather than presenting them as facts.

5. Make one deliberate revision

   Choose a change that serves your intent: give the quieter character a turn, replace an explanation with a question, change the ending, make a sign easier to read, or remove a joke that obscures the idea.

   Make the change yourself or ask for a bounded suggestion and then decide the wording. You own the choice even when AI helps make it. Produce a second version that contains the revision. Do not ask the tool to declare which version is best on your behalf. If useful, put both versions on the Optional planning card.

6. Compare and choose what happens next

   Read, perform, or inspect both versions. Point to one difference and explain why you made it. Which version better serves your intent, and what might have been lost? Keeping the first version, combining parts, or deciding neither works yet are valid choices.

   Name the AI contribution and your own decisions. Choose to stop, make another version, explore a new idea, or share if you want to. Sharing and a permanent record are not required. The Optional planning card can hold a short explanation, but speaking it is enough.

Check your result

• The piece has one bounded idea, a chosen format, and an intended effect.
• You can distinguish invented material from any real claim the piece uses.
• The second version contains a deliberate change you can point to.
• You can explain an AI contribution and a choice you made yourself.

You are done when

• You chose one small idea, an intent, and a boundary.
• You participated in a live chatbot request and chose what to use or reject.
• You made two versions with a deliberate revision between them.
• You compared the versions and explained your own choices and the AI contribution.
• You chose what happens next; saving or sharing is optional.

Try another version

• Turn the same idea into another text format and compare what changes.
• Draw an optional illustration, or try an image tool if available, and inspect how it changes the idea.
• Invite a partner's response, then decide which suggestion fits your intent.

Learner Map

Tracks

• Invitation To Be Curious Again
• Creative AI Makerspace

Modules

• Make Something Weird: Creative AI Lab

Learner feedback

Give learner feedback. Feedback is optional and separate from your creative work.