... Is there an easier way to accomplish the same goal with less a bulkly set up?....
The class was a discussion of things that 'civilizations' need to survive. Water being so precious, the instructor thought that this hands on project would give them an idea of how much you need to do to get 'cleaner' water....the kids realized how hard it is to find clean water........
Without micro pore pressure filters or semipermeable (osmosis) membranes you will have a lot of bulk.
With slow sand filters you need almost 2 feet of sand and they have to have a biological layer active on the top.
The small slow sand biofilter will clean more than 20 liters of water an hour of water once it is working but it takes about 2 days for the biologically active layer in the top of the sand to get established.
Dr. David Manz at the University of Calgary had managed to get the slow sand filter down to the size of a 5 gallon pail with 99% or better pathogen reduction but that is still a pretty large package.
So I think the answer to the question if there are easier and less bulky expedient filters is no.