Our youngest Saklan students engage in deeply authentic and engaging projects through a topic that is relevant to their lives and interests. The class engages in sustained inquiry through a three phase approach:
Phase 1 - Getting Started: We discover what we already know about the topic we will be studying, share our stories, and represent our growing knowledge in a variety of ways
Phase 2 - Field Work: We dive further into our topic with field work. We go on experiences, generate questions, research and interview experts. We represent our growing knowledge in a variety of ways to show what we are learning and generate new questions
Phase 3 - Culminating our Work: We share what we have learned publicly with our community and engage them in all the learning we have done over the course of the project.
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method that engages students in high levels of academic rigor while also increasing their capacity to think critically, work collaboratively, and deepen their empathy for others.
While the term project based learning has many interpretations, Saklan units are carefully designed by our teachers to address academic standards and social emotional learning (SEL) goals. Other key aspects of Saklan PBL units include:
Driving Questions and Final Projects
High quality Project Based Learning in Saklan Kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms is guided by a driving question. Driving questions must be complex and open-ended to sustain student engagement across the length of a project. Driving questions may be presented by teachers or co-created with students at the start of a unit and are often connected to not just the content standards but relevant problems that students see in the world around them.
PBL at Saklan makes learning come alive for students by engaging in authentic, complex, and relevant tasks that take their learning beyond the classroom, often through public presentations or civic engagement.
Below are a few examples of recent Saklan driving questions, academic content areas, and final projects.
| Grade | Driving Question | Content Areas | Final Project |
| Kinder | How can we take care of our environment and inspire others to help us? |
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School-based advocacy to educate fellow students |
| 3rd | How can we show respect for the people whose ancestral land Saklan is on? |
|
Two site-specific ground murals (one foursquare and one hopscotch) that bring the community together through play and representation of the Saklan and Ohlone culture and languages |
| 6th | How are we still connected to ancient Greek culture, language, and mythology today? |
|
School site museum installation |
How is PBL different from doing a project?
What are milestones?
How is the Saklan staff trained?
How long are PBL units?
