Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Memphis Schools Adds Gaming for Math and Science

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/25/13

Memphis City Schools has signed an agreement with a Web-based service that provides math- and science-based games. The district has begun making Penda Learning available for students in grades 4-10.

Penda, which is intended to be used as a supplemental resource, has the student pick an avatar and specify friends. The user chooses what activity he or she will work on, and the social nature of the program allows the student to get into friendly competitions with those friends. The service specifies what standards a given set of exercises aligns with and delivers between 10 and 15 minutes of activities, which are scaffolded to continually crank up the difficulty level as the student demonstrates proficiency. When the student misses a question, the service provides hints. Progress summaries are reported to users and teachers.

The company's lessons align with both Common Core State Standards in math and Florida's standards in math and science.

The service is being used in Maple Heights City Schools in Ohio, Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, and Tennyson High School in Hayward, CA.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • digital graph

    Building Genuinely Data-Informed School Districts

    Schools today generate enormous amounts of data. The difference between collecting it and using it effectively often comes down to quality, access, and context.

  • abstract electronic circuit board 3d rendering

    Content Infrastructure, Governance Lag Behind Agentic AI Adoption

    AI agents have moved into mainstream enterprise use, but the content infrastructure needed to support them has struggled to keep up, according to a new report from cloud content management company Box.

  • abstract spiral of multi colored lights

    OpenAI's New Astra Model Reaches Critical Cyber Threshold

    OpenAI has introduced GPT-6 Astra, its most capable broadly deployed model and the first system the company says has reached the "Critical" cybersecurity capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.