Duration: 45 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Critical Thinking
- Empathy
- Resilience
- Creativity
Brief Description:
After completing the filter construction and testing, students reflect on their experiences through creative visual expression. Individually or in pairs, they create a poster, drawing, or comic strip that illustrates: How their water filter worked, what materials they used and in what order, What the water looked like before and after, what they learned from the experiment. Some may choose to draw a “before and after” comparison, while others may illustrate the full story of their engineering adventure, including challenges or surprises. Students are encouraged to label their drawings with simple words or phrases, and then they present their work to the class or display it in a “gallery” area. This fosters pride in learning and gives space for multiple forms of expression
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills
- Creativity: Students explore new ways to represent their scientific and personal observations visually.
- Critical thinking: They reflect on what worked or didn’t work in their designs and consider improvements.
- Resilience: Learners gain confidence in trying new ideas and learning from feedback.
- Empathy: Viewing each other’s work fosters respect for diverse solutions and collaborative learning.
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
- Creativity: Students creatively express their observations and learning through drawing, labelling, and other visual means.
- Critical thinking: They reflect on what worked or didn’t in their experiments and consider ways to improve.
- Resilience: Learners understand that learning comes from both successes and repeated attempts.
- Emotional awareness: They connect their emotional experience with scientific exploration and appreciate the perspectives of peers.
- Empathy: Students observe and value others’ approaches and solutions, fostering respect for diverse ideas
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
- Visual Arts / Creativity: Expressing scientific observations and processes through drawing, design, or other creative media.
- Science / Critical thinking and Problem-solving: Reviewing experimental steps and analysing outcomes.
- Collaboration / Connectedness and Empathy: Working together, sharing materials, and discussing results respectfully.
- Language / Curiosity, sense of wonder and openness and Critical thinking: Using descriptive vocabulary to explain observations and ask questions.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
- A4 or A3 drawing paper
- Coloured pencils, markers, crayons
- Rulers, stencils (optional)
- Stickers or stamps for feedback
- Simple checklist or reflection prompts for each student
- Wall or board space for displaying final products
Preparation notes
- Prepare example posters or formats (comic strip, step-by-step process drawing, “My filter story” frame)
- Provide both visual and written reflection prompts
- Support different skill levels: allow drawing, writing, or both
- Plan time at the end for a brief “gallery walk” or peer presentations
- Reinforce that all work is valuable — this is about expressing learning, not making perfect art
Guided Questions
- What did your filter look like inside?
- What surprised you the most?
- What would you try differently next time?
- What was the hardest part? What part made you feel proud?
- If you had to explain this to someone else, how would you do it?
- What do you think an engineer does, and did you feel like one today?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- What did you learn today that you didn’t know before?
- Did your drawing help you remember the steps?
- Would you like to try this experiment again in a new way?
- What did you enjoy more building the filter or reflecting on it?
- What feedback would you give to your team or yourself?
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- For students with less confidence in drawing: offer templates or allow mixed media (cutouts, stickers, collage)
- For groups that rush: use a timer to slow down stages (“5 more minutes on the drawing”, “Now write two labels”)
- For more advanced students: challenge them to design a new filter or explain how to improve global water access
- To encourage presentation: give each student a chance to choose how to share (gallery walk, pair share, or mini stage)
- To support deeper reflection: provide sentence starters (“I discovered that…”, “Next time I would…”, “Our filter was…”)