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Classroom activity Grade 6 Art & Music

PFAS Awareness Poster Critique Carousel for Thistlebrook County

A grade 6 station-rotation activity where student groups critique water-safety posters at four stations, each focused on one design principle, then revise their work.

Objectives

  1. Students will critique a poster using one design principle at a time.
  2. Students will give specific, useful feedback on a peer's design.
  3. Students will revise their own poster based on the feedback received.

Vocabulary

PFAS
A large family of human-made chemicals used in things like nonstick pans, waterproof fabric, and firefighting foam. They are called forever chemicals because they take a very long time to break down.

Also: critique, contrast, hierarchy, audience

Teacher overview

PFAS are a group of long-lasting human-made chemicals that do not break down easily, and the EPA has set a limit for two common ones at 4 parts per trillion, which is an extremely small amount. Thistlebrook County (a fictional county for this activity) has asked students to make posters that help residents understand why the water utility is adding new filters. This is a station-rotation critique activity for groups of three or four. Four posters, one per station, are reviewed by every group in turn. Each station card names a single design principle, so groups look at one quality at a time instead of judging everything at once. The activity teaches focused critique: because a station limits attention to one principle, feedback becomes specific and usable rather than a vague "I like it."

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, set up four stations, each with one draft poster and one station card. The four cards name these principles: Message and claim, Contrast and readability, Visual hierarchy, and Audience and call to action. Post a one-line explanation of each principle on its card.
  2. Divide the class into four groups and send one group to each station. Give every student sticky notes for feedback.
  3. Explain the message station in detail, since it carries the writing goal: reviewers check whether the poster states a clear claim about PFAS or the new filters and gives at least one reason. Reviewers write one strength and one suggestion on sticky notes tied only to that station's principle.
  4. Ring a timer every four minutes. When it rings, each group rotates to the next station and reviews the poster there using that station's principle. Groups do not repeat a principle they have already used.
  5. Continue until every group has visited all four stations, so each poster collects feedback on all four principles.
  6. Return each poster to its designer or design team along with its stack of sticky notes.
  7. Give students five minutes to sort their feedback into "fix now" and "consider later," then mark one specific change they will make.
  8. Debrief with two questions: which single principle produced the most useful feedback for your poster, and which change will most help a Thistlebrook County reader understand the message?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Use this key for the quick principle-identification check during the debrief. Read each described flaw and have students name the principle it violates.

  1. Answer: Contrast and readability. Yellow text on a white background is hard to read from a distance, which is a contrast problem.
  2. Answer: Visual hierarchy. When every word is the same large size, nothing stands out first, so the eye has no clear path and the main idea is lost.
  3. Answer: Message and claim. A poster that only shows a picture of a water drop with no stated claim or reason does not tell the reader what to think or do.

Differentiation

Support

Give a feedback frame on each sticky note: "One strength: ___" and "One suggestion: ___." Reduce the rotation to three stations for groups who need more time at each, dropping the station the class finds least essential.

Extension

Ask a group to write a short revised claim for the message-station poster that is stronger than the original, then explain which two pieces of feedback led to their new wording.

ELL supports

Provide picture icons for each principle (an eye for hierarchy, two contrasting swatches for contrast) on the station cards. Allow spoken feedback to a partner before writing, and give a word bank of critique verbs such as "add," "enlarge," "move," and "simplify."